availle's review
4.0
I love Caine. I'm not sure about Hari Michaelson.
This book is pretty long. The Caine scenes are, of course, fantastic, and I really love the way scifi and fantasy are intertwined it this book.
That said, some of the scenes on earth are just long, and a tad annoying, but that's probably because I tend to feel too much for/with the characters. Still, definitely recommend it.
This book is pretty long. The Caine scenes are, of course, fantastic, and I really love the way scifi and fantasy are intertwined it this book.
That said, some of the scenes on earth are just long, and a tad annoying, but that's probably because I tend to feel too much for/with the characters. Still, definitely recommend it.
kitvaria_sarene's review
4.0
This starts of with Harry's youth, so if you're waiting for the sequel to start off where Acts of Caine stopped, you'll be in for a surprise. It does continue the story later, so fine be afraid to be kept hanging.
It was even grimmer than the last, and some scenes really had me flinch. There's a scene for example where a woman is raped and her breast eaten at the same time for scale of how bloody this can get. So it's really another step up, and if you want to avoid such violence, this might not be the right book.
Otherwise I really enjoyed it - we get a deeper inside into the characters. Caine has to grow as he is crippled after the events in book one, and has to somehow learn to live with that. This story also won't be a nice cup of tea for him, and things only get worse. Lots of action, lots of betrayal, old friends resurfacing, new allies found, and quite some twists kept me well entertained and interested all the way through.
Also I really liked the end - though I obviously won't spoil it. ;)
It was even grimmer than the last, and some scenes really had me flinch. There's a scene for example where a woman is raped and her breast eaten at the same time for scale of how bloody this can get. So it's really another step up, and if you want to avoid such violence, this might not be the right book.
Otherwise I really enjoyed it - we get a deeper inside into the characters. Caine has to grow as he is crippled after the events in book one, and has to somehow learn to live with that. This story also won't be a nice cup of tea for him, and things only get worse. Lots of action, lots of betrayal, old friends resurfacing, new allies found, and quite some twists kept me well entertained and interested all the way through.
Also I really liked the end - though I obviously won't spoil it. ;)
porlarta's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
twerkingtobeethoven's review
3.0
Huge disappointment. Caine has an extremely short screen-time, roughly 30% of the 800+ pages are actual "acts of Caine", the rest - I'm sorry to report - is over-bloated rambling. Also, Berne is sadly missing hence "Blade of Tyshalle" lacks a real sumbitch.
Damn shame, considering [b:Heroes Die|311864|Heroes Die (The Acts of Caine, #1)|Matthew Woodring Stover|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403193753s/311864.jpg|302782] is 24 carat badassery, and the concept of "Overworld" is amazing.
So, at the end of the day, "Chapter 0" was really promising, it's an account of how Caine came to be, and probably the best part of the book. The following pages are, ah... frustrating. Here and there, you get glimpses of the badassery that made "Heroes Die" a testosterone classic, but unfortunately it's only a few bits, such as...
"I fold down all but my first finger. “Rule One: Fuck with me, you die. No warnings. No second chances.”
This causes an astonished rumble to boil up from the mass of prisoners. Adder can only stare at me like I’ve gone bugnuts.
I pop the next finger. “Rule Two: What I say, goes. It comes out of my mouth, it’s law. Break a law, you get hurt. Break it again, you die.”
Adder snorts contemptuously. “Done yet? Anything else?”
“One more,” I tell him with a shrug. “Rule Three: Fuck with my friends, it’s the same as fucking with me. When in doubt, see Rule One. So—” I lift one hand up above my head and waggle it. “How many of you want to be my friends?”
Adder gives another one of those snorts. Sounds like he’s got a turd up his nose.
“C’mon, don’t be shy,” I call. “Let’s see some hands.”
And...
Now, the catechism.
“All right, Adder,” I say. “Who’s in charge here?”
“Motherfuck—” he starts, but a twitch of my arms cuts him off.
“Let’s try that again, huh? Who’s in charge here?”
“You are,” he growls.
“Very good. Who makes the rules in the Pit?”
“You do.”
Damn, 2.5 disappointed stars.
Damn shame, considering [b:Heroes Die|311864|Heroes Die (The Acts of Caine, #1)|Matthew Woodring Stover|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403193753s/311864.jpg|302782] is 24 carat badassery, and the concept of "Overworld" is amazing.
So, at the end of the day, "Chapter 0" was really promising, it's an account of how Caine came to be, and probably the best part of the book. The following pages are, ah... frustrating. Here and there, you get glimpses of the badassery that made "Heroes Die" a testosterone classic, but unfortunately it's only a few bits, such as...
"I fold down all but my first finger. “Rule One: Fuck with me, you die. No warnings. No second chances.”
This causes an astonished rumble to boil up from the mass of prisoners. Adder can only stare at me like I’ve gone bugnuts.
I pop the next finger. “Rule Two: What I say, goes. It comes out of my mouth, it’s law. Break a law, you get hurt. Break it again, you die.”
Adder snorts contemptuously. “Done yet? Anything else?”
“One more,” I tell him with a shrug. “Rule Three: Fuck with my friends, it’s the same as fucking with me. When in doubt, see Rule One. So—” I lift one hand up above my head and waggle it. “How many of you want to be my friends?”
Adder gives another one of those snorts. Sounds like he’s got a turd up his nose.
“C’mon, don’t be shy,” I call. “Let’s see some hands.”
And...
Now, the catechism.
“All right, Adder,” I say. “Who’s in charge here?”
“Motherfuck—” he starts, but a twitch of my arms cuts him off.
“Let’s try that again, huh? Who’s in charge here?”
“You are,” he growls.
“Very good. Who makes the rules in the Pit?”
“You do.”
Damn, 2.5 disappointed stars.
jercox's review
3.0
Dystopian world escaping into entertainment part 2 - spreading the dystopia from one world to the other.
This book was still enjoyable, but the action was not as fast paced, there were a lot more disturbing images (violence and sexual), and a LOT of deus ex machina to keep things moving along.
This book was still enjoyable, but the action was not as fast paced, there were a lot more disturbing images (violence and sexual), and a LOT of deus ex machina to keep things moving along.
odinblindeye's review
4.0
Hoo Boy, this one was a long time coming. I read the first book in the series a year or a few ago (I have no idea, and am too lazy to look it up right now). The return to Caine's world and story seemed a little far fetched to me at first, as the first novel was a stand alone and tied up the story well. But there was more to tell.
This one is depressing, no doubt about that. It's great fun to read still, but it did make me want to pull all my hair out. The author apparently decided that he'd just break his characters, and see what was left at the end. Without ruining much, Caine is gonna have some series issues after this one.
Great fun novel, though it seemed a little slower than the previous ones.
This one is depressing, no doubt about that. It's great fun to read still, but it did make me want to pull all my hair out. The author apparently decided that he'd just break his characters, and see what was left at the end. Without ruining much, Caine is gonna have some series issues after this one.
Great fun novel, though it seemed a little slower than the previous ones.
yak_attak's review
4.0
Huge, complex, and crumbling under its own weight. Its epic scope is both its strength and its greatest curse - and from two dimensions. First, this is an ugly, disgusting book constantly one-upping itself not only in twists, but how brutally these twists play out. It's not a book I can recommend much: Metaphor for child molestation plays out pretty much non-stop for half of the running time and that's hardly the worst of it.
Second, the more simplistic narrative of Heroes Die steps aside to give Stover room to do a lot of complex meta work...
But the combination is just *hard* to read. Hard to keep track of. Hard to deal with. Coming as a sequel to a book as well-honed as Heroes Die, it's a startling change. At first it's refreshing - the first third of the book is some of the most engaging build-up in a fantasy novel I've read. The action hero is crippled. The villain is... a friend? And the instigating incident that kicks off the main plot is one of the most impressive uses of a world I've seen - Stover is not afraid to stir up the status quo, that's for sure. But the resolution of all these threads, because of their complexity, simply can't match up to the setup. Some of it is exciting. Some of it is amazing. A hell of a lot of it though is a muddy tangle, leaving you feeling like 'huh that's sure important but I don't get how.' And that feeling stays basically from the 2nd half through the conclusion. There's no neat Rube-Goldberg machine that leads to a satisfying conclusion so much as an primal scream of chaos where everything smashes together.
But what a smash it is
Second, the more simplistic narrative of Heroes Die steps aside to give Stover room to do a lot of complex meta work...
But the combination is just *hard* to read. Hard to keep track of. Hard to deal with. Coming as a sequel to a book as well-honed as Heroes Die, it's a startling change. At first it's refreshing - the first third of the book is some of the most engaging build-up in a fantasy novel I've read. The action hero is crippled. The villain is... a friend? And the instigating incident that kicks off the main plot is one of the most impressive uses of a world I've seen - Stover is not afraid to stir up the status quo, that's for sure. But the resolution of all these threads, because of their complexity, simply can't match up to the setup. Some of it is exciting. Some of it is amazing. A hell of a lot of it though is a muddy tangle, leaving you feeling like 'huh that's sure important but I don't get how.' And that feeling stays basically from the 2nd half through the conclusion. There's no neat Rube-Goldberg machine that leads to a satisfying conclusion so much as an primal scream of chaos where everything smashes together.
But what a smash it is
working_title's review
2.0
Heroes grow old –
so does Caine. That, I fear, could possibly be an alternative title for the 2nd book of the Caine series. Sadly [a:Matthew Woodring Stover|1567394|Matthew Woodring Stover|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/authors/1301265530p2/1567394.jpg]has a very monochrome view on this topic. While the whole book could have done with a good third less of the pages, while still keeping the story line intact, what has been written is largely covered in – pardon me here but I only repeat what was repeated over and over in this book – piss and shit and blood and makes me wonder whose stiffened penis would react to the stench of the whole mess while body parts rot away and everyone gets mutilated and raped.
Though I’m really no reader with a weak stomach, I soon got bored by the sheer amount of excrement and pus in this book, to the point it was just disgusting.
And it all started so promising. By playing with the never extinguished fear of epidemic, Stover created a compelling setting for his 2nd book, while even introducing the reader to new and complex characters and (finally) some deeper back ground story to the whole earth/Overworld setting. And then he lost that thought somewhere along the way.
2 stars for getting me all fired up at the beginning!
so does Caine. That, I fear, could possibly be an alternative title for the 2nd book of the Caine series. Sadly [a:Matthew Woodring Stover|1567394|Matthew Woodring Stover|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/authors/1301265530p2/1567394.jpg]has a very monochrome view on this topic. While the whole book could have done with a good third less of the pages, while still keeping the story line intact, what has been written is largely covered in – pardon me here but I only repeat what was repeated over and over in this book – piss and shit and blood and makes me wonder whose stiffened penis would react to the stench of the whole mess while body parts rot away and everyone gets mutilated and raped.
Though I’m really no reader with a weak stomach, I soon got bored by the sheer amount of excrement and pus in this book, to the point it was just disgusting.
And it all started so promising. By playing with the never extinguished fear of epidemic, Stover created a compelling setting for his 2nd book, while even introducing the reader to new and complex characters and (finally) some deeper back ground story to the whole earth/Overworld setting. And then he lost that thought somewhere along the way.
2 stars for getting me all fired up at the beginning!
preiman790's review
5.0
I want to get this out of the way right off the bat. I loved this book. Filled with great action without ever using it as a crutch. These books aren't just shooting for the thrill ride that other books of it's type do. I suppose that's my one caution, if you thought the first book got to philosophical and metaphorical then steer clear, because those aspects not only persist but magnify, making this not only one of the bloodiest things I've read this year but also one of the most thought provoking.