Customer Reviews

Road to Wrath (Book II of the Kobalos Trilogy)

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

 

 

Once again, Ty Johnston has written a winner. This book is the sequel to City of Rogues (Book I of the Kobalos Trilogy). It continues the story of a small group traveling to Kobalos and all their adventures along the way. As always, the writing style of this author makes each of his books a joy to read. Keep them coming, Ty!

I love this series! I can't say enough about this book. It was even better than the first. I started the third book the minute I finished this one and it is a page turner as well. Thank you, Ty Johnston for an original piece of work!

Not sure what's going on with this series. I was hoping for an improvement from the first book, expecting that the author was more-or-less catching his stride. But this installment was a meandering series of seemingly random events with nearly zero plot development, and characters that really didn't go anywhere from the first book.

I ask myself these three questions: What were the characters doing at the beginning of the book? What were they doing at the end of the book? Do I know more about what's going on than I did at the beginning, or was this just filler? My answers were not promising.

The main character himself is still an improbably young, impossibly over-skilled vengeance addict.
A few deus ex-machina devices deliver the characters from certain doom on multiple occasions which make the story a little cartoon-buffoon-ish.

I think the author here has a *lot* of potential. I like the flow of the prose, and how I never hiccup over the words or phrasing as a reader. I like the writing style, which is why I gave the second book a chance. At some point in the future I may give this author another shot, but not in this series, as the benefit of my doubt has just run out.

*** spoiler alert below ***

*** SPOILER ALERT BELOW ***
- How is it that three people about to be beheaded can fight their captors, jump down from the execution stage and *run* to their horses under the cover of a distraction? Did the jailers forget to cuff their legs? Were the cuffs opened remotely and magically?
- For big, bad war demons, they're *remarkably* incompetent. In fact, they're not just remarkably incompetent, they're extremely conveniently incompetent. I'd rather have the 'mage who can do anything, anywhere, at any time' pop in and levitate everybody in the city simultaneously than have the "oh my gosh, the demons who wanted them dead showed up just in time to prevent any executions... and then let them get away!!!"
- So the main character is seriously bad-a**... obviously must've seen pretty much everything already... because he's totally prepared for anything... but things get a little icky and he just goes flat out insane?
- Why is the female lead (who I thought was a good character in the first book, but have reversed my opinion in this sequel) even giving a crap about this self-obsessed weirdo?

In a nutshell, if you liked City of Rogues, you'll likely enjoy this as well. Kron Darkbow is on the road with Adara, master swordswoman, and Randall, a nice young man who happens to be the son of a depraved, evil super-wizard. They're hunted by the villains they failed to finish off in City of Rogues, stalked by war demons sent by the villain they're after in the next book, and they're facing all sorts of new villains all along the road.
The same strengths from City of Rogues are in place in Road to Wrath. There is non-stop action, a bit of struggle with moral dilemmas, a dark theme of vengeance and justice, and then even more action.
The same weaknesses are present as well. Some of the writing is clumsy, and there are some irritating typos. None of it is very deep, in characterization or world-building. However, the power of the storytelling makes the book irresistible.