Bloody Rose: The Band, Book Two

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You see,” she went on, slathering every word in cloying condescension, “most bands only fight in arenas. They have met the tendrils of Hive Fleet Leviathan and Hive Fleet Hydra on multiple fronts, where they have butchered the ravenous creatures and the Genestealer Cults that worship them. Seventeen-year-old Tam Hashford is a decent girl and not a “youth gone wild” ( Skid Row song title) who lives in Ardburg and works in a bar.

Along the way, as any band worth its salt would do, Fable makes a tour of the arena circuit, continuing Eames’ notion that mercenary bands are simply more violent versions of rock groups. The mercenaries—all of them big, bearded Kaskars—were regulars at the tavern where Tam worked, and their leader gave her a wave as the argosy went by. The xenos creatures honed in on the Bloody Rose's position and descended upon the planet in great waves. The whole vibe is similar to the Rat Queens comics, or any other number of RPG-inspired fantasy works out there.Derek from Canada I'm no wordsmith to explain how much I enjoyed this book, but I have read my fair share of fantasy. In the glorious old days, you’d find your monsters ‘free range,’ but by the time of Bloody Rose, most mercs earn their coin through sold-out arena shows. Anyhow, they start off on a secret adventure in the form of one final contract … one final go at fame for Bloody Rose, in the hope to eclipse Saga and her father.

This new army threatens to sweep across Grandual much like Lastleaf’s did in Kings had it not been stopped by the collective might of mercenary union. Though with Eames only starting his publishing career, I have a feeling that the best has yet to come. The Sororitas arrayed themselves for war on the utterly lifeless world, and held their positions for a solar day while the canonesses of each preceptory prayed for guidance. The narration was ok, but nothing special and again a disapointment because the narrator in the first book with particularly its selection of US southern accents and drawls (to my English ear anyway) set an amazing tone and brought the world to life but here, there was no attempt to re-create that atmosphere.I thought it will be hard for the sequal to be better than "Kings of the Wyld" but it definitely is. Eames joyfully mashes rock music elements and epic fantasy tropes to create the equivalent of a 500-page heavy-metal guitar solo: loud, frenetic, unpredictable, and gripping . Hey, watch where—” A boy her age with a hawkish nose and limp blond hair turned his affronted scowl into what he probably thought was a charming smile. The Publishers Weekly review praises the book saying "This is a messy, glorious romp worthy of multiple encores. There were gangly trolls whose severed limbs were capped with silver to prevent them regenerating, and a massive, muscled ettin that was missing one of its two heads.

But it’s also the only teensy-weensy letdown of the novel in light of how emotionally charged everything else in the story is. She knew damn well what the Ravine was, but if this blowhard was gonna talk, then Tam figured she’d might as well choose the subject. Which is great, because everyone, from the wranglers to the bookers to the arena managers—heck, sometimes even the mercs themselves—get paid, and the rest of us get a hell of a show. When most sensible debut authors produce something as spectacularly good as Nicholas Eames did with his Kings of the Wyld opener to "The Band" series they tend to follow up with something that gives the fans exactly what they want.What few records survived through the Reign of Blood suggest that she served as Alicia Dominica's champion, and that when the reformer Sebastian Thor's armies descended upon Terra she slew some of the mightiest invading warriors in hand-to-hand combat. It is a rare thing to experience art that can raise you so high, that can bring you elation and honesty and joy, or that leaves a lasting impression carved into your psyche.