ponch22's review
3.0
I started reading the first two A Life of Death books after receiving copies of the books in exchange for honest reviews. However, my wife saw them on our shared Kindle account and after reading them bought [b:A Life of Death: Sacrifices|35280477|A Life of Death Sacrifices A Thrilling Supernatural Detective Series full of Suspense (A Life of Death Trilogy Book 3)|Weston Kincade|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1496337088s/35280477.jpg|56641610] to complete the series. I still am going to write an honest review in exchange for nothing!
Story feels like a lot more of [b:A Life of Death: The Golden Bulls|16913813|The Golden Bulls (A Life of Death, #2)|Weston Kincade|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1357023307s/16913813.jpg|23186560]—Alex Drummond is a detective who can relive a person's last moments before their death if he touches something present at the time of their death. In this third book, his power seems stronger (previously, he didn't always have a vision just from touching a dead body or part of one), but it's his son, Jamie, who has an even stronger power. It seems Jamie can see and converse with ghosts. He is still scarred from the final scene of the previous book, but he wants to come help his dad solve some murders.
Alex's small hometown of Tranquil Heights is quickly becoming very poorly named. Some high school students are forming a gang, known as the Reds. A local drug kingpin seems to be killing anyone his paranoid mind views as a threat. Some backwoods moonshiners are also wrapped up in the turf war. Honestly, I don't think I could really summarize the plot. I think, perhaps, [a:Weston Kincade|4729210|Weston Kincade|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1423169429p2/4729210.jpg] was setting up a mystery but I'm not sure he ever unraveled it completely.
There's more action and some interesting deaths to read about. Kincade also bumps up the greusomeness (weird to think I thought this would be a Young Adult series after the first book).
One of my biggest complaints with the first two books was the poorly written dialogue. And while it's not perfect in this novel, it does get a little better. However, something I don't remember being a problem in his previous books slapped me in the face like an offended woman's well-manicured hand. It was the overuse of obscure/strange similes & metaphors. Two instances:
I'm glad I'm finished with the series. The first novel was an interesting start, but I'm not sure I'm a fan of how the series "grew up."
The ebook I purchased included three short stories about death that had some ups and downs. "Undetermined Fate" imagines Limbo as a location you gamble with the favors you earned in life to get a chance to come back to life. The gambling game was clever but the ending seemed a little too easily tied up (not sure why the short story needed a happy ending). "Roots" is a simple little parable that features a bunch of classic riddles. Wish Kincade would have created some new ones or dug deeper to find some more unique ones I haven't heard a bunch of times before. "Falling" is the strangest, as it seems to tell the story about a super spy on one last mission who may have been caught and interviewed by a new potential employer or caught and tortured by someone who saw through his disguise. There's also a weird ending where it may have all been a fever dream on a gurney as he flickered in and out of this world. Hard to tell..
Story feels like a lot more of [b:A Life of Death: The Golden Bulls|16913813|The Golden Bulls (A Life of Death, #2)|Weston Kincade|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1357023307s/16913813.jpg|23186560]—Alex Drummond is a detective who can relive a person's last moments before their death if he touches something present at the time of their death. In this third book, his power seems stronger (previously, he didn't always have a vision just from touching a dead body or part of one), but it's his son, Jamie, who has an even stronger power. It seems Jamie can see and converse with ghosts. He is still scarred from the final scene of the previous book, but he wants to come help his dad solve some murders.
Alex's small hometown of Tranquil Heights is quickly becoming very poorly named. Some high school students are forming a gang, known as the Reds. A local drug kingpin seems to be killing anyone his paranoid mind views as a threat. Some backwoods moonshiners are also wrapped up in the turf war. Honestly, I don't think I could really summarize the plot. I think, perhaps, [a:Weston Kincade|4729210|Weston Kincade|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1423169429p2/4729210.jpg] was setting up a mystery but I'm not sure he ever unraveled it completely.
There's more action and some interesting deaths to read about. Kincade also bumps up the greusomeness (weird to think I thought this would be a Young Adult series after the first book).
One of my biggest complaints with the first two books was the poorly written dialogue. And while it's not perfect in this novel, it does get a little better. However, something I don't remember being a problem in his previous books slapped me in the face like an offended woman's well-manicured hand. It was the overuse of obscure/strange similes & metaphors. Two instances:
He swallowed the large mouthful of eggs. They went down like a camel swallowing a porcupine. (139)
The pose sent a chuckle coursing through my body like a hamster in a tube maze suffering from PTSD. (180)These comparisons were just two of many that frequently made me question what I just read and completely took me out of the novel. I suppose every common turn of phrase sounded weird the first time it was ever used, and maybe Kincade is simply trying to invent some of his own, but I think he went a little overboard.
I'm glad I'm finished with the series. The first novel was an interesting start, but I'm not sure I'm a fan of how the series "grew up."
The ebook I purchased included three short stories about death that had some ups and downs. "Undetermined Fate" imagines Limbo as a location you gamble with the favors you earned in life to get a chance to come back to life. The gambling game was clever but the ending seemed a little too easily tied up (not sure why the short story needed a happy ending). "Roots" is a simple little parable that features a bunch of classic riddles. Wish Kincade would have created some new ones or dug deeper to find some more unique ones I haven't heard a bunch of times before. "Falling" is the strangest, as it seems to tell the story about a super spy on one last mission who may have been caught and interviewed by a new potential employer or caught and tortured by someone who saw through his disguise. There's also a weird ending where it may have all been a fever dream on a gurney as he flickered in and out of this world. Hard to tell..
chymerra's review
4.0
Sacrifices are one of those books that stick with you after you read it. It sticks to the same theme that runs through the other books in the trilogy but it also brings up a few questions. What would you do to protect your child? How far would you go to protect him or her? Would you be able to make a snap judgment under extreme stress and live with the consequences?
Sacrifices starts shortly after the events of The Golden Bulls. Alex is watching his town going down drain. There is a turf war brewing between the moonshiners and a drug kingpin. As that is happening, cremated remains are showing up all over town. Alex’s son is soon in the middle of things when he takes on a gang that is taking over the high school. Soon, everything will come to a head and what will happen when the smoke clears. Who will survive and who will die. Will Alex be able to protect the people closest to him? Will his powers help him?
If I only liked Alex in the earlier books, I loved him in this one. He was a force to be reckoned with. I loved it when he went clued the principal about gangs. He was a force to be reckoned with. I do like that he was a little jealous of Jamie’s power. He wasn’t salty about it but he was jealous that Jamie could talk to his father and he couldn’t. I thought that his reconnecting with his father’s friend was a pivotal part of the book. His friend gave some information that shocked Alex (and myself). As a parent myself, I know I would have done the same thing Alex did. Hands down and no questions asked.
The action in this book was awesome. It was the action (along with the supernatural elements) that kept me glued to the book. I like it when a book revs up and stays revved up. More often than not, books like this will stall in the middle of the book. Not Sacrifices. The action was kept up until the ending.
There is also violence in the book. Not going to lie and say that it was mild violence. There were some pretty gruesome scenes of murder. The most gruesome scene is with Hector at the end of the book. But, it didn’t take away from the book. Instead, it was needed to show how ruthless the drug kingpin and the moonshiners were.
The end of the book was almost a let down after the intense chapters before it. I felt a bit let down when reading the final chapter. The only reason I felt let down was that I knew there was not going to be any books in this universe. I would not know what happened to Paige, Alex or Jamie. There was no closure for me. And the final scene of the chapter…omg. I broke down in tears.
I would give Sacrifices an Adult rating. While there is no sex, there is language and graphic violence. This is a book and a series that I would reread. I would also recommend to family and friends with a warning about the violence.
I would like to thank Weston Kincade for allowing me to read and review Sacrifices and the A Life of Death trilogy.
All opinions stated in this review of Sacrifices are mine.
**I received a free copy of this book and volunteered to review it**
Sacrifices starts shortly after the events of The Golden Bulls. Alex is watching his town going down drain. There is a turf war brewing between the moonshiners and a drug kingpin. As that is happening, cremated remains are showing up all over town. Alex’s son is soon in the middle of things when he takes on a gang that is taking over the high school. Soon, everything will come to a head and what will happen when the smoke clears. Who will survive and who will die. Will Alex be able to protect the people closest to him? Will his powers help him?
If I only liked Alex in the earlier books, I loved him in this one. He was a force to be reckoned with. I loved it when he went clued the principal about gangs. He was a force to be reckoned with. I do like that he was a little jealous of Jamie’s power. He wasn’t salty about it but he was jealous that Jamie could talk to his father and he couldn’t. I thought that his reconnecting with his father’s friend was a pivotal part of the book. His friend gave some information that shocked Alex (and myself). As a parent myself, I know I would have done the same thing Alex did. Hands down and no questions asked.
The action in this book was awesome. It was the action (along with the supernatural elements) that kept me glued to the book. I like it when a book revs up and stays revved up. More often than not, books like this will stall in the middle of the book. Not Sacrifices. The action was kept up until the ending.
There is also violence in the book. Not going to lie and say that it was mild violence. There were some pretty gruesome scenes of murder. The most gruesome scene is with Hector at the end of the book. But, it didn’t take away from the book. Instead, it was needed to show how ruthless the drug kingpin and the moonshiners were.
The end of the book was almost a let down after the intense chapters before it. I felt a bit let down when reading the final chapter. The only reason I felt let down was that I knew there was not going to be any books in this universe. I would not know what happened to Paige, Alex or Jamie. There was no closure for me. And the final scene of the chapter…omg. I broke down in tears.
I would give Sacrifices an Adult rating. While there is no sex, there is language and graphic violence. This is a book and a series that I would reread. I would also recommend to family and friends with a warning about the violence.
I would like to thank Weston Kincade for allowing me to read and review Sacrifices and the A Life of Death trilogy.
All opinions stated in this review of Sacrifices are mine.
**I received a free copy of this book and volunteered to review it**
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