Wraithblade (The Wraithblade Saga Book 1)

I've been reading fantasy since the 80's. Literally thousands of books covering not so well know authors and all the greats. SM Boyce describes in great detail all the surroundings, the magic system, and action packed fight scenes.There is no comparison when it comes to her writing ability. Detail, fluid, emotional, are just a few words that comes to mind with her writing style.I usually don't write reviews but she is so deserving of these compliments that I just couldn't let this slip by.Thanks for the breath of fresh life and air in the fantasy genre.

Can I just say this book was EVERYTHING! I wasn’t expecting it to be this good but I gave it a chance because the cover was interesting. We have drifter alone in the forest. He’s running from the federali hood and doing penance by choosing a lonely existence in the forest with monsters. He hears a young girl cry out and has to make a decision. Leave her to whatever fate or go and help. And his decision to not walk away changes his life and the lives of countless others across multiple countries. Because he killed a king to protect a peasant girl and got more than what he bargained for. Watching his journey to survive and retain his humanity is just awesome and I can’t wait to see what happens in book 2

Overall I like the story and characters. At first, the writing seemed to be between "not good" and "so-so" but it improved while I read further.

Loved it! Full of action, dynamic interesting characters that take you on an incredible journey filled with magical surprises! The protagonist is strong and while doing the right thing is forced into a scary future. I am starting on book 2, now!

Hits just enough of the typical fantasy tropes to make it familiar with just enough originality to make it unique.

I have enjoyed your story from the first page to the last. Can hardly wait for a sequel. Thank you, you are a great story teller.😍

Aside from minor quibbles I have over wording (he blocked the sword swing seconds before it hit? Really? How slow is that swing?) and a few breaks in internal consistency (character that can do something one chapter can't do it later), this was a nice read. Have to admit I wasn't expecting much, from the synopsis it seemed like it was going to be grimdark and dreck. (Grr... no one can understand my deep dark secrets... I'm so broody)But I gave it a chance and I'm glad I did! I'll definitely be picking up the next one, and you should too.

The good: Elaborate world and well developed characters.The bad: Too much unnecessary detail, every location/action takes paragraph upon paragraph of overwrought scene building. It shouldn't take 15 paragraphs to grab a bottle of wine. Nearly every sentence spoken or action taken during a fight is broken up with at least a half dozen irrelevant paragraphs or some random tangential thought, to the point that I found my own mind wandering and would forget what was going on.While I found myself doing a lot of skimming, the story is good enough that I'll try the next book in the series.

Connor is a hero-in-waiting, and he gets his chance to fulfil his destiny when he accidently bonds with the Wraith King. The author writes well, and drags the reader along, but the quality of the writing masks a number of less good aspects of the storytelling. One of these is the fight scenes. I have read a lot worse, but just as you are really getting immersed, an aspect of the fight simply makes no sense, and it throws the whole thing off.The characters are well rounded, but the women more so, with feeling. The men are essentially drawn from stereotypes and fleshed out, and one has to not dwell too deeply on Connor’s background, which is there to try to explain who he is, but falls desperately short of explaining why he fights with two swords and how he got so good. There are also issues with the Wraith King himself, in that his character goes against all undead canon as the book progresses, with the lack of justification suggesting that the author is either unfamiliar with the lore or is simply taking liberties.The book is one of the longer ones I have read, lately, but still does not get as far as one would expect, and many of the situations Connor finds himself in feel contrived. As noted, it is very easy to forgive all of these quibbles, but it means that it is not possible to give this book any more than four stars. But despite all that, I would recommend this book. For Phil Tucker fans, the style of writing is remarkably similar!

During my read I constantly wavered between giving this book two or three stars. In the end I rounded up because at least it was good enough for me to finish.I love the premise of Wraithblade. Lone commoner fuses with the undead wraith of an ancient king? Sounds like something I want to read. The plot is decent, if unsurprising and a bit slow, and the magic system is actually delightfully simple.But I didn't enjoy the writing at all. The use of short paragraphs make for a fast read, but the writer is overly fond of using the following technique, and it's unnecessary.Repetitive.Irritating.Anyone who read the book will know what I mean.The chapters also make no sense. At first I believed they were switches to another character's point of view, but sometimes a new chapter begins without any change in viewpoint or even in scene. Sometimes the viewpoint changes without starting a new chapter. One time, time skips forward in the middle of a chapter without any indication that it happened, leaving me slipping back and forward to see if I missed something. All in all, it's a bit of a mess.But for me, the real let down of this book is the characterisation. Everyone in this book is serious. Dead serious. And intense. So very intense. Even the one character who seems to be a bit of a jokester had a scene at the end where he proves how very serious he is. Besides that, everyone is a walking cliche.The main character is called Connor, but he might as well have been called Grim McGritface because that describes him perfectly. He's a Loner with a Dark and Mysterious Past, and wins his battles with the sheer Power of Will.Along his way, he meets the Sorceress with a Dark and Mysterious Past, and the Lovable Rogue with a Dark and Mysterious Past. Together with the Dark and Mysterious Wraith with a Dark and Mysterious Past, and Potential Misguided Love Interest, they will take on the evil antagonists of this book, and boy, are they evil and one dimensional.First, we have the Evil Schemer. He's in league with Evil Arrogant Ass (senior AND junior, but they're interchangeable), or is he? Who knows, being evil, they're backstabbing eachother all of the time. There's also Evil-and-Batshit-Crazy, but at least that one gets turned into ice and smashed into pieces.At least none of them have a Dark and Mysterious Past, which at this point is almost a redeeming quality.Finally, the fight scenes are slowed down so every sword stroke can be described in detail, but the tension is lost completely. People will magically duck and avoid serious injuries, but get hit by lesser strikes for no other reason than to draw out the fight. And when they inevitably get stabbed and do receive serious injuries, they fight on anyway, because, you know, the Power of Will.I finished this, but I won't read the sequel. I actually want to know what happens next, but the grating prose and one dimensional characters are too off putting to me.

This is really a very good fantasy novel in a lot of respects. The world is large, detailed and described in a way that gives a vivid picture. The characters are detailed and thought out with a strong distinct voice - I enjoyed the presence of complex, multi faceted female characters too (often missed out in books of this ilk). I went in not really knowing what to expect and found myself quickly drawn in. I very nearly gave 5 stars but for me I’m not a huge fan of the shifting perspective. I get that moving between several different characters in different locations can give a sense of scale and make the story feel like a sweeping epic that is covering the whole kingdom or world but personally it always makes me nervous. Too often I find I’m far more interested in one or maybe two characters perspectives and breaks from that become a bore if not irritating. That was the case here to an extent - the other characters are interesting particularly the other two of the main trio but everyone else I just got a little tired of. The story being told through them was interesting enough and I could have dealt with the occasional break but they’re very frequent and detracted from my enjoyment. Peeking at the reviews for the next book this seems to continue if not get worse with that ones even higher page count. Having said this I did still really enjoy this book but I can’t say this didn’t effect my opinion. I’m gonna read the next but feel I’m getting into something I’m gonna end up skimming in part then losing interest in for this reason.

Good fast moving story with plenty of action. Though there were some chapters that didn't really add much to the narrative. Does feel like a fictionalisation of an rpg game. Lots of magic and enchanted weapons. Potions that can control the weather... not sure how that works. Plus argumentation via magical taboos. Supposedly rare and powerful bit don't really see that in the action. Seems to just prolong the action due evening being argumumented.Characters are bit basic specially the main protagonist whose character is total contradiction to his back story. Also contradicting values at times. Too juch of a all American hero for my liking.other characters a little more interesting but still not mu h depth to their personalities.Sorry is pretty good and kept me interested moves at a good pace and doesn't get stuck in one thread for too long as usualy does in lot of fantasy. Plot not linear and have some twists and turns which were well done.Good read if you can ignore the not see good stuff looking forward to see what happens next. Will probably be easy to turn into visual media some time in the future.

I only picked up this book because the cover looked interesting but wow, am I glad I did!Dark and gritty, almost a grimdark feel and a very entertaining read. The characters are fun and it's written well.More of an adult themed fantasy as opposed to all the teen books that are written these days, do yourself a favour and read it.