Jeremy Hayes

The exciting conclusion to a superb book series. The books have really changed a lot from the first tome. In the Thieves of Stonewood, virtually the entire plot is told from Harcourt's viewpoint, but the third novel shares a little bit of everyone without getting confusing at all.

I would have wanted Phyzanthiss to get more showtime, but Fezzdin was right that demons are lazy bums. There's lots and lots of actions, tons of character development, a lot of interesting twists and an ending that made me cry which is really hard to do.

I think the last time I cried while reading was when I wrote the ending to A Calamity. The ending is indeed really touching. A worthy ending to a really great and highly overlooked series.… (altro)

I've read so far nearly 100 books this year despite my insanely demanding work schedule and so far no book has thrilled me as much as Jeremy's underrated Stonewood trilogy. I knew that he released this prequel novel of the enchanting bounty hunters that appear in the 2nd and 3rd Stonewood novel, but it wasn't in KU and I had been forced to wait for another chance to read it.

The time finally came that I could finally enjoy it and I was not in the least disappointed.

The book initially switches chapters between the sad childhoods of Evonne and Vrawg where they overcame rejection and indifference and both learned sword fighting in an attempt to survive in a cruel world. We already knew a bit about their pasts in the Stonewood trilogy, but the road that took both good guys to encounter eachother was thrilling nonetheless.

When Evonne is betrayed by her fellow pirates including her jealous brother Zack, she is evicted to a deserted island to a certain death sentence. Vrawg meanwhile lives in absolute solitude in a cave unable to return to his tribe and unwanted by any meandering human. As he was starting to lose his mind out of bordeom and loneliness, he saves a fisherman's life that runs away instead of thanking him and Vrawg decides to take his abandoned rowboat. Little did he know that his irrational decision leads him to Evonne's side and after a brief moment of distrust, Evonne decides Vrawg might not be a terrifying 7 foot monster afterall and that he's just a really sweet guy that only wants a friend.

The two oddballs team up and manage to escape the island and thus begins their new life as the world's most successful pair of bounty hunters.

Jeremy like usual does a marvelous job of making you fully connect with the characters, even supporting characters that only make a brief appearance are fascinating and make you want to learn more about where they came from (particularly Grim, Dragon, the mysterious Dark Mistress that is Evonne's friend or the noblewoman that Evonne rescued early in the book without asking for a reward). Perhaps some people will argue that Jeremy relies on too much telling but I don't mind his writing style one bit. He is capable of dragging me fully into the story which not a lot of authors can do and I simply cannot stop until I finish his stories.

I will be anxiously waiting for an upcoming novel related to the wizards in his vastly interesting universe.… (altro)