saraishelafs's review
4.0
A nice collection of fantasy stories some good some not so good. Several were related to series either in progress or planned. A story a day was a good approach for me.
secre's review
4.0
In typical fashion, I had started writing a blow by blow review of this as I went along and trusted in my phone to keep it safe. Foolish me. So, I'll have to make do instead. I'm always rather wary of anthologies because I can find them so hit and miss - even when it's all the same author. When it's a collection of multiple authors, many of whom I have never heard of, I am even more so. But I'm never one to turn down a freebie and this certainly looked interesting enough; the standard definition of hero often being rather boring after all.
We start with Reaper of the flame which is an undeniably dark and grim tale, settling us into the knowledge that these heroes may not be what we expect. The blood of innocents may be required to pay for the sins of a ruling class and our heroes may be the one with blood on their hands. From this, Blood and Stone is far gentler and more introspective, written with a contemplative hand that understands the frailty that lies beneath the surface of all men. I fell in love with Phil Tucker's work here, the writing is beautiful and in so very few pages he paints a picture of both violence and humanity and how one bent backed old man can perhaps make a difference. Daniel Parsons however takes us in a completely different direction with Another Chosen One, offering us some much needed laughs with his almost parodical use of fantasy tropes and cliches. Whilst it is clear that he is poking fun and it is a highly entertaining read, there is still a depth here that is surprising and I found the highlighting of how many authors only use human life in their works quite telling.
The Skincutter's Daughter moves us back into the realms of far darker fiction, with little or no humour interlaced to lighten it. Despite the focus on mental health and faith, I found this fairly poor and difficult to get into, perhaps due to the lack of cohesive world building. The same could be said of The Thorn Witch and A Tale of Two Thieves, and whilst the events described keep you engaged, the lack of real characterisation and world building mean that even shocking events don't have the impact they should have. The latter in particular I found to be simplistic in comparison to some of the other offerings here. Whips, Toothpicks and Doorstoppers certainly returned my engagement however, even if some of the characters were perhaps overly caricaturised; the dark edges are back and it felt like we had moved out of young adult territory once more, but the level of humour here certainly got a few smiles out of me. But it was with Heart of a Shadow Child that I once more found myself hooked; Brandon Carr has a real gift here for showing the flip sides of the coin between brutality and innocence. It has really sharp edges and yet his writing is beautiful, bringing you right into the mind of a child who has been forced to grow up beyond normal capabilities in a world of never ending darkness... and yet can still find a spark of hope.
We return to a land of high fantasy in Broken Honour and whilst it is short, it is unique enough with intelligent wolves and a mix of betrayal and trust running throughout as we are brought into a frozen wasteland. Talking of wolves, The Wold's Law strangely has none of them and was another weaker entry in the collection with high action impacts but very little depth behind it as the tools of angels and demons battle. I wasn't impressed with Falling Ashes either, finding it simplistic and rather representative of characters repeatedly making bloody stupid decisions when they really should know better. For this reason I found it lacking and the main character irritating rather than anything else. Curse the Dead was thankfully far more intelligently written and manages to mix that introspective writing style with a fairly quickly paced narrative; I particularly enjoyed the characterisation of the witch and the twist on her magic that makes everything that little bit more unpredictable, but there is really interesting world building here as well. My only complaint was that the ending was relatively weak. We return to the more typical fantasy tropes with Warmarked as we follow a fighter and tourney champion into battle; fast paced with lots of action, this would be more my brothers style than mine. There's certainly potential in the characters, but the author takes the easy way out by simply skipping over several years rather than actually depicting them.
Necromancy comes back into play in Death Bane, in a world where the dead outnumber the living and the situation gets grimmer by the day. Again, the characters could have been far more than they actually are here and I found myself feeling that something was missing. But Jason Paul Rice sets out what looks to be a potentially thrilling epic fantasy in Redemption Day with his character back-story of a man fallen into darkness only to be given a chance at redemption through the lives of three children.
But the true gem in this comes from the namesake of the collection, Ragged Heroes. I had hoped for, and expected, great things and Andy Peloquin does not disappoint. If there was ever a reason to buy the first novel his new series, The Silent Champions, this is it. It is a superb exploration of a ragtag group of soldiers, the dregs of an army and how they can surpass all expectations - including their own. I absolutely fell in love with the characters, two new recruits with problems all of their own and a motley crew of supporting soldiers and officers. This is the longest entry here and it is definitely worth it.
We start with Reaper of the flame which is an undeniably dark and grim tale, settling us into the knowledge that these heroes may not be what we expect. The blood of innocents may be required to pay for the sins of a ruling class and our heroes may be the one with blood on their hands. From this, Blood and Stone is far gentler and more introspective, written with a contemplative hand that understands the frailty that lies beneath the surface of all men. I fell in love with Phil Tucker's work here, the writing is beautiful and in so very few pages he paints a picture of both violence and humanity and how one bent backed old man can perhaps make a difference. Daniel Parsons however takes us in a completely different direction with Another Chosen One, offering us some much needed laughs with his almost parodical use of fantasy tropes and cliches. Whilst it is clear that he is poking fun and it is a highly entertaining read, there is still a depth here that is surprising and I found the highlighting of how many authors only use human life in their works quite telling.
The Skincutter's Daughter moves us back into the realms of far darker fiction, with little or no humour interlaced to lighten it. Despite the focus on mental health and faith, I found this fairly poor and difficult to get into, perhaps due to the lack of cohesive world building. The same could be said of The Thorn Witch and A Tale of Two Thieves, and whilst the events described keep you engaged, the lack of real characterisation and world building mean that even shocking events don't have the impact they should have. The latter in particular I found to be simplistic in comparison to some of the other offerings here. Whips, Toothpicks and Doorstoppers certainly returned my engagement however, even if some of the characters were perhaps overly caricaturised; the dark edges are back and it felt like we had moved out of young adult territory once more, but the level of humour here certainly got a few smiles out of me. But it was with Heart of a Shadow Child that I once more found myself hooked; Brandon Carr has a real gift here for showing the flip sides of the coin between brutality and innocence. It has really sharp edges and yet his writing is beautiful, bringing you right into the mind of a child who has been forced to grow up beyond normal capabilities in a world of never ending darkness... and yet can still find a spark of hope.
We return to a land of high fantasy in Broken Honour and whilst it is short, it is unique enough with intelligent wolves and a mix of betrayal and trust running throughout as we are brought into a frozen wasteland. Talking of wolves, The Wold's Law strangely has none of them and was another weaker entry in the collection with high action impacts but very little depth behind it as the tools of angels and demons battle. I wasn't impressed with Falling Ashes either, finding it simplistic and rather representative of characters repeatedly making bloody stupid decisions when they really should know better. For this reason I found it lacking and the main character irritating rather than anything else. Curse the Dead was thankfully far more intelligently written and manages to mix that introspective writing style with a fairly quickly paced narrative; I particularly enjoyed the characterisation of the witch and the twist on her magic that makes everything that little bit more unpredictable, but there is really interesting world building here as well. My only complaint was that the ending was relatively weak. We return to the more typical fantasy tropes with Warmarked as we follow a fighter and tourney champion into battle; fast paced with lots of action, this would be more my brothers style than mine. There's certainly potential in the characters, but the author takes the easy way out by simply skipping over several years rather than actually depicting them.
Necromancy comes back into play in Death Bane, in a world where the dead outnumber the living and the situation gets grimmer by the day. Again, the characters could have been far more than they actually are here and I found myself feeling that something was missing. But Jason Paul Rice sets out what looks to be a potentially thrilling epic fantasy in Redemption Day with his character back-story of a man fallen into darkness only to be given a chance at redemption through the lives of three children.
But the true gem in this comes from the namesake of the collection, Ragged Heroes. I had hoped for, and expected, great things and Andy Peloquin does not disappoint. If there was ever a reason to buy the first novel his new series, The Silent Champions, this is it. It is a superb exploration of a ragtag group of soldiers, the dregs of an army and how they can surpass all expectations - including their own. I absolutely fell in love with the characters, two new recruits with problems all of their own and a motley crew of supporting soldiers and officers. This is the longest entry here and it is definitely worth it.
bibliophilelair96's review
5.0
Loved it. Couldn't put it down. Amazing book and I do recommend it . Five star book
alwroteabook's review
4.0
A mixed bag, as anthologies tend to go. The book starts brightly with ML Spencer's excellent Reaper of the Flame, probably my favourite story of them all, followed up by Kevin Potter's thoughtful Blood and Stone which showed that not all heroes wield swords and slay dragons. There were plenty of other fine stories such as The Thorn Witch by LF Oake, which had a great ending, and Warmarked by David Estes. I also discovered Oz Monroe, who closed out the anthology with a short gem. Andy Peloquin had a good entry, but I thought it too long (more like a novella) and it broke the flow of the other shorts. Perhaps it should have been last.
Still, there's something for everyone - some thought-provoking, some action packed, and plenty of humour. Well worth a look, in my amateur opinion
Still, there's something for everyone - some thought-provoking, some action packed, and plenty of humour. Well worth a look, in my amateur opinion
stephbookshine's review
4.0
THIS REVIEW IS FOR ONE NOVELLA FROM THE ANTHOLOGY: 'Another Chosen One' by Daniel Parsons
*I received a free ARC of this novella. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*
Another Chosen One, written by Daniel Parsons and included in the Ragged Heroes fantasy anthology, is an interesting take on the anthology theme, as it features more of an anti-hero than an unlikely hero.
Parsons takes epic fantasy tropes, inspects them, turns them round a few times, then spears them with some sarcasm and a lot of resultant gory death and destruction (although nothing too graphic!).
His hero, who is called Jack as fairytale tradition demands, knows what needs to be done, and that he is the boy to do it. Unfortunately he has little knowledge, no skill, and has made a fundamental miscalculation about his resources.
The tone here reminded me of the Evil Overlord list that did the email rounds in the 90’s and remains superbly and sarcastically funny to this day. The dry humour from the reader perspective comes in the gap between Jack’s perceptions/motivations and what is actually happening.
Parsons has packed a lot into a short space here, mixing a lot of action with some plot and character development and a bit of world-building, making this the perfect opening to the new fantasy series it precedes.
If you like your fantasy comedic, but also a bit dark, then you will enjoy this story!
“Oh, gods.” An elf next to the leader gently massaged his eyelids. “Tamos, we’ve got ourselves another air groper. What is it with these remote towns and kids thinking they’re heroes?”
“Think? Ha!” Jack barely lifted his gaze from the book. Licking his finger, he turned a page, and continued to stride through the parting crowd. “This is a genuine spell book. Let’s see how quickly that smile leaves your face when I unleash the power of ALL CHAOS!”
He snapped his fingers, spread his stance, and pointed at the elves. Immediately, his finger glowed and a bar of golden dragon fire as wide as a tree trunk scorched the air between the villagers.
Or, at least, that’s what Jack imagined would happen. What really happened was there was a lot of straining, then an awkward silence.
– Daniel Parsons, ‘Another Chosen One’ in the Ragged Heroes anthology
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com/2018/03/23/another-chosen-one-from-the-ragged-heroes-anthology-daniel-parsons/
*I received a free ARC of this novella. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*
Another Chosen One, written by Daniel Parsons and included in the Ragged Heroes fantasy anthology, is an interesting take on the anthology theme, as it features more of an anti-hero than an unlikely hero.
Parsons takes epic fantasy tropes, inspects them, turns them round a few times, then spears them with some sarcasm and a lot of resultant gory death and destruction (although nothing too graphic!).
His hero, who is called Jack as fairytale tradition demands, knows what needs to be done, and that he is the boy to do it. Unfortunately he has little knowledge, no skill, and has made a fundamental miscalculation about his resources.
The tone here reminded me of the Evil Overlord list that did the email rounds in the 90’s and remains superbly and sarcastically funny to this day. The dry humour from the reader perspective comes in the gap between Jack’s perceptions/motivations and what is actually happening.
Parsons has packed a lot into a short space here, mixing a lot of action with some plot and character development and a bit of world-building, making this the perfect opening to the new fantasy series it precedes.
If you like your fantasy comedic, but also a bit dark, then you will enjoy this story!
“Oh, gods.” An elf next to the leader gently massaged his eyelids. “Tamos, we’ve got ourselves another air groper. What is it with these remote towns and kids thinking they’re heroes?”
“Think? Ha!” Jack barely lifted his gaze from the book. Licking his finger, he turned a page, and continued to stride through the parting crowd. “This is a genuine spell book. Let’s see how quickly that smile leaves your face when I unleash the power of ALL CHAOS!”
He snapped his fingers, spread his stance, and pointed at the elves. Immediately, his finger glowed and a bar of golden dragon fire as wide as a tree trunk scorched the air between the villagers.
Or, at least, that’s what Jack imagined would happen. What really happened was there was a lot of straining, then an awkward silence.
– Daniel Parsons, ‘Another Chosen One’ in the Ragged Heroes anthology
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com/2018/03/23/another-chosen-one-from-the-ragged-heroes-anthology-daniel-parsons/
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