Customer Reviews

Bloodheir

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A Godless World is... problematic, and unfortunately not as good as I expected it to be. I get the sense that Ruckley started out with a good story and is now making it unnecessarily complex. My main sticking point is how superfluous half of this book is. Take the characters, for instance. There's a lot. Too many. Some are supposed to be powerful and influential but do nothing to pull the plot in any particular direction. Others are introduced for no apparent reason and fade out of the story halfway through. Most of these walk-ons are only given the barest of characterization to explain their actions, so you don't care if they succeed or fail or live or die or what. Even among the main characters (the ones introduced in book one) you won't find a lot of personality to hang your hat on. Surprisingly among this original group it's the "bad guys" (Aeglyss, Kanin, etc.) I enjoyed reading about the most. Aeglyss is clearly shaping up to be the End of Level baddie, and I'm interested in finding out how his steady descent into megalomania will end. Kanin, by contrast, is becoming Aeglyss's opposite: someone who started out bad but now finds himself overcome with self-doubt. It's these two who kept me turning the pages, albeit unenthusiastically. I also feel like I need to say something positive about the Kyrinin, especially after incorrectly comparing them to elves in the first book. Now they remind me more of Native Americans. I'm really surprised at how well Ruckley is defining them thus far: we're only given glimpses into their culture, but it's easy to tell they don't think and act like normal humans. Then, dear reader, at the other end of the scale you have the "good guys". It's here where I think the book falls down. The True Bloods are boring. They all come across as competent but overwhelmed losers. Even Orisian, especially Orisian, the would-be savior. I appreciate that Ruckley isn't making him gallop from victory to victory like "other" fantasy writers, but at the same time he does nothing to make you root for him, making him come across as just another ordinary supporting character and not an exiled prince on a mission of vengeance. And did I mention there's no humor whatsoever in this book? I think that's a big mistake; even ASOIAF, the best series I've ever read, would be a slog if we didn't have Martin's wit to liven it up. And that's what Bloodheir is. A slog. The desperate running battle at the end sends the book out on a high (or rather low) note, and the refreshing lack of magicians, goblins and elves will appeal to a lot of jaded fantasy readers, but I dunno, I really don't want to roll around in the muck and grime of Ruckley's world any longer then I have to. I'll still probably read the last book, though, mostly BECAUSE it's the last book.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who likes dark, action intense fantasy. I would say this wasn't as good as the first book and some of the parts seemed to trail on and on, but overall this was a great book that ended well leading up to the third one which I hope comes out soon.

There is more infighting in this one among the different factions and the boy Thane Orisian is off doing his own thing while the rest of the Godless World gets smashed into oblivion.

Aglyss becomes the main protragonist and uses his powers to further weaken his enemies and allies alike, bending them to his will.

Taim is my favorite characters in the second installment. He is the good guy in this story who you really want to root for and see come out on top more than any of the others. I hope in the end of the series he gets to see his wife and daughter, at least one more time.

Brian Ruckley has done an even better job with book two of his Godless World series. The writing is more concise and full of tension and all of his characters have individual depths. Some yet to be explored to the fullest. As someone who reads few fantasy novels, I was very taken with the simplicity of style as it allows the story, and the character's lives, to breath and grow on you. Not too much magic or special powers, just enough to make it feel real and keep my interest. With every page turn, I await the next chapter of each characters story.

Well done!

Posting my review from my column Reading Realms at The Outhouse website: [...]Bloodheir picks up where Winterbirth leaves off and has the same momentum the first book had built. So far though, Ruckley's writing hasn't used the familiar formula of acts to build his story. It felt more like you just hopped in the midst of this world and got picked up for a ride in the first book and it moved steadily on whether a section was covering a huge battle or minor political argument. Bloodheir does the same for the first half of the story. It's the second half that slowed a bit for me.

It seemed much of the tension in the story faded a bit as power shifted between the various players in the book and the pieces on the board were being setup for book three. Bloodheir also focused more on characters I least liked verse the first volume. Despite the story not feeling like it follows the typical highs and lows of writing, it did manage to leave us with the expected rather bleak ending the middle volume of a series often does.

Magic is still handled quite well here. Even with the growing power of the Aeglyss character it still comes across quite mysterious and unknown. Even Aeglyss himself not understanding his own limits.

The play for power in the story continues to be interesting as well. Though you might label one side of the war the "bad guy" verse the other, within both sides are people made up of shades of gray. Both sides of the battle have their own internal struggles that risk tearing them apart more than the war itself.

It was quite a bit easier to follow the story this time. My last review I mentioned the confusion with all the family names and more; but it was all quite familiar to me by now. Also the structure of the story was familiar as well. Instead of the typical chapter to chapter layout, each book has been made up of five huge chapters (with prologue and epilogues as well) and then each chapter is broken up into sub-chapters. It was a bit 'different' when I started 'Winterbirth', but works perfectly for the structure of the story.

Bottom Line:

Though I felt the story lost a bit of momentum about 2/3rd's of the way through, it still easily held my interest due to the being already pulled deeply into this world. Ruckley has built to an interesting point so far and I am very interested in seeing how it plays out. My recommendations to read this series from the first book review still stand.

Great book by Brian Ruckley, Thank you for this Series. I'm coming out of an 11 book series and I was a little disappointed, so I was looking for something to give me that epic feeling again with some depth to the plot and most of all characters, and this book and the first have quenched my thirst. Plus, I'm happy to know I can go and get book three without having to wait an eternity for finishing, publishing and release dates. "Bloodheir" won't let you down, it will only give you a sleepless night waiting for the book store to open so you can start book three.

Great story that does not fit the traditional mold. Expect to not want to put it down.

An excellent book in the fantasy genre. Good fleshed out characters and a lot of great written "grey areas" to enjoy. The final part of this series will be fun to read.

Bloodheir is the 2nd Book in the Godless World trilogy by newcomer Brian Ruckley. Although not as good as the 1st book,(rarely are 2nd volumes as good as the 1st in just about any trilogy), it is still a well written novel.

Some major players get killed off in this one, and some major chessboard-like moves are huge, thus making this a seemingly intregal part to the oncoming last volume in this trilogy. Where most middle books are fillers, not so Bloodheir!

Ruckley's prose is dynamic in many ways, lending his work a feel of someone having been a giant in the fantasy field for years. He is a consumate wordsmith. For writing about such a desolate, dark world, full of blood and treachery and foul, bleak weather, Ruckley's writing comes off very poetish and lyrical, almost beautifully surreal for such a dark genre.

Brian Ruckley's characters here continue to grow, not stagnate like alot of writers have a tendency to do. In just two large volumes, Brian Ruckley has breathed new life in the fantasy genre, even though there is little to no magic, and no mythical beasts, demons, elves, nor ogres or the like that most fantasy is built upon. Without these elements, which at times I wished it had, it still shows what talent Ruckley has to enable the reader to still get a feeling of getting a fantastic fantasy read with just more of a historical feel than a demon-dwarves-elfs-filled typical fantasy novel.

Instead of elfs, Ruckley has his own colorful and cool invention called - Woodwights called kyrinin, and their half-breeds called Na'kyrim, which are unhuman albino Native American-like warriors who are awesome hunters and tracker warriors. Very interesting tribes these, along with their half-human-half-Kyrinin counterparts, Na'kyrim. The humans are called Huanin, true-bloods that are battling each other in clans that range from Thanes, (instead of Kings), of different clans led by their family-held heritages, all battling an ancient human foe from a distant land that are their war-like brethren called the Black Road. The Black Road too have different clans, all uniting to overthrow all the true-blood Thanes and conquer their lands. Women warriors abound throughout, making them as big and bold as their male counterparts.

In this bold new novel, the halfbreed human-kyrinin named Aeglyss is growing in his newfound powers of a lost age, enabling him to twist the minds of humans to his will, as well as creating a mixed bag of warriors to his call, building a vast army to overthrow both human Thanes and Kyrinin held lands, twisting everything and everyone around him to serve his mad desires.

Rich in both world-building and characterization, Brian Ruckley writes a great second installment, (albeit sometimes a bit too long at times), that left us looking forward to the 3rd and last installment - Fall of Thanes - coming out soon.

A very well-done 2nd book in this series by Brian Ruckley. I very much enjoy his painting of this grim, cold world. His descriptions of the action is well done (and there is a lot of it). I enjoyed this book more than the 1st, Winterbirth. I very much look forward to the 3rd book, but alas, it's not until May 2009. Readers, this is a well thought-out and described world to sink yourself into. Not much magic use, good characters, etc. You even find yourself rooting for the bad guys sometimes. Read it, and you'll see.

Orisian has become the Thane of the Lannis Blood at a critical time with his people reeling from recent events (WINTERBIRTH); he is unsure of what to do to turn things around on their frozen land, but thirsts to save his people.

At the same time his friend Haig Prince Aewul leads a tremendous military force, but avarice and the thirst for glory could prove their undoing if not checked by rational thinking.

Their adversary Aeglyss seeks magical revenge on his enemies even as his thirst enables him to rise towards the top of the dangerous Black Road; he plans to bring the fight to Haig and Aewul before dispatching Orison.

The second Godless World epic fantasy is bloody grim as Brian Ruckley continues to vividly paint an extremely dark realm. The story line is fast-paced and filled with non- stop action that traverses much of the Godless World. Yet the key to this excellent fantasy is the cast as the three leaders play a deadly game of chess in which checkmate does not necessarily mean victory or defeat because cunning can change the rules of engagement. Orisian is especially fascinating as he understands war means death, destruction, and chaos with no true victors yet cannot prevent it from coming. Readers who enjoy a powerful enthralling fantasy thriller will appreciate Brian Ruckley's aptly named BLOODHEIR.

Harriet Klausner