Reviews

10 Stars

Another SUPERB offering from this amazing author. The premise is traditional rather than clichéd, with the usual mix of humans, elves, gnomes and dwarves (although the elves are unlike anything Tolkien presented, ditto the dwarves) and a human thief who has somehow ended up with the spirit of an eons-dead sorcerer living in his head, and the rather unwanted ability to literally take a walk in his own dreams. Added to the mix is a small green goblin jester, who is so much more than what he appears to be.

The action is non-stop, there are plots and counter-plots to satisfy everyone, and there is even some ultra-creepy stuff thrown in for those who simply cannot do without. If you are looking for a happily-ever-after offering, this series is NOT for you!!

octavia_cade's review

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3.0

I liked this much better than the first in the series. It's still nothing very original in fantasy terms, but it's competently done and the characters are more rounded this time, I think. Harold isn't any more outstanding to me than he was the last time, but the secondary characters - Eel and Kli-Kli especially - are much more interesting (and in the latter case, much less annoying) than they were before, and I'm beginning to feel invested in them.

The book seems to read quicker than the last one, too. Possibly because of the different structure - #2 is very much an ongoing adventure, while #1 was routinely interrupted with what were essentially self-contained short stories.

Overall, an improvement on the first. Hopefully #3 is even better.

sarah42783's review against another edition

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4.0

Original rating: 4 miserable little stars.
New rating: 4.5 stars. Go me and stuff.

➽ And the moral of this reread is: I was probably as Super Extra High™ on magic mushrooms as the shamans in this series when I first read this book. I mean, it’s been only three ridiculous weeks but I’d already forgotten most of the story pre-reread (yeah yeah yeah, shame on me and stuff). Not only that, it seems I failed to mention Invincible (the mostest awesomest shaggy-haired, serrated claws and fangs-clad pet rat ever) in my review. And disproportionate, ever-twittering midget zombies, too. And crayfish-tight grips! Crayfish!!! I forgot to tell you about my murderous babies’ cousins twice removed!!! Can you believe this?! Now if that isn’t the ultimate proof I need to lay off the magic fungi for a while, I don’t know what is.

[Original review]

😈 Blame It All On The Evil Russians™ Again Buddy Read (BIAOTEVABR™) with Evgeny and Eilonwy 😈

“A green goblin with blue eyes; three dark elves; a dour knight; nine warriors, one of whom appeared to be an angry gnome; and a dwarf in an absurd bowler hat. Plus a skinny rogue. Not the kind of company you meet in the city every day of the week.”

Talk for yourself, inexperienced puny human. You see delightfully colorful cliques like this one everyday in my neck of the nefarious woods.

Warning: a ~~deadly pre-review digression~~ rivetingly riveting introduction is about to be mercilessly unleashed upon you. But. I am feeling uncharacteristically friendly and kind-hearted today, so I put it in spoiler tags. Because, as ~~deadly~~ rivetingly riveting as it might be, I am aware that some of you like the crap to be cut dramatically. You are most welcome and stuff.

Spoiler

Okay, let’s be disgustingly honest here: I hardly remember anything about this book even though I read it less than 10 days ago. So right now you’re probably thinking that this ~~momentary~~ amnesia has two probably probable causes:

① The book is Somewhat Very Bad (SVB™). Which doesn’t make much sense, you’ll have to agree, since I rated it 4 stars, but you Clueless Barnacles and your reverse logic will never fail to leave me ever so slightly dumbfounded and most puzzled and stuff, so a 4 star rating in Nefarious Crustacean Territory might equate a -10 star rating in Clueless Barnacle Zone, who the bloody shrimp knows?

And/or

② I am suffering from severe memory loss because of old age.

I said OLD AGE, you Disrespectful Arthropods! I never said anything about the excessive consumption of slightly fermented beverages! I’ll have you know I NEVER drink alcoholic, um, refreshments. Never ever ever ever. ~~Especially not 10 year old Laphroaig. Nope nope nope and yuck yuck yuck.~~ Anyway, I am very sorry to inform you that neither of your hypotheses are right. Ha. You see, my Problematic Decapods, the reason why I don’t remember much about this book is that, um, you know, I, err, I, um, you know, err…Funny, I can’t remember what I was about to say. I’m pretty sure it was fascinating, though. And deep. Really deep. Oh, well.

So. This book is about my thieving boyfriend Harold-who-is-called-Garrett-in-the-original-Russian-but-why-the-fish-keep-his-original-name-when-Harold-sounds-super-sexy-and-oh-so-much-cooler-than-Garrett-eyeroll

Spoiler

and his quest to save the world from a doomed doom at the hands of The Bad Evil Guy Without A Name. (Hey, no blaming my ever failing memory this time, the bad, evil guy really is actually called the Nameless One and stuff.)

My Harold is still as yummy as ever here, although I must admit he isn’t quite as deliciously snarky and full of smartassitude as he was in book 1. Which might or might not explain why he went down a few notches on the Potential Harem Material Thermometer (PHMT™). But hey, he has a valid excuse. I mean, as ~~darkly scrumptious yet funny as fish~~ light and fluffy things were in book 1, it all got gloomy pretty fast in this instalment. Like, the characters who are killed dead really stay really killed dead and stuff. The author disposes of a character you slightly somewhat like (a little), but you keep thinking to your little self, “Pehov is a nice chap, he wouldn’t exterminate so and so ~~and so and so, and so and so, and so and so~~, would he? Of course not, that would be too cruel. Also, it wouldn’t be very hilarious.” But guess what? He bloody shrimping does.

My thoughts exactly, dear boy. Although, I have to say that your telenovela-like family drama is nothing compared to what Pehov put my poor, sensitive little self through here.

You know what makes this worse? That Pehov, in his All-Machiavellian Evil Russianness (AMER™) starts the book with funny-as-fish shenanigans involving a sullen, angry, cantankerous dwarf’s toothache (don’t ask). And once he’s gotten you all gleeful and joyful and stuff…bam! He gets grim and ruthless and bloody-stinking-fish-this-ain’t-not-so-rollickingly-droll-anymore on you. The epitome of Evil Russianness, if you ask me. I could swear I heard Pehov muhahahaha-ing like a maniac in the background while I was reading the book, too.

Hey, nice haircut, Alexey! You’ll have to give me your hairdressers’ address!

Anyway, things escalate quickly and dark stuff scrumptiously happens. My boyfriend pulls off a Super Extra Cool Heist (SECH™). There are delightful battles, gutted bodies, spilled entrails and severed limbs

Spoiler

yay!

. Yet another Wondrous Pehov Bar Fight (WPBF™) is had. (Still can’t decide which is most wondrous, this one or the one in the previous instalment. They are both most stupendilicious, if you ask me.) There are extremely appetizing treacherous bastards. Adventurous undertakings are undertaken. There is Walking Prophecy stuff and mysterious-as-fish stuff I might perhaps maybe want to know more about. Possibly. Kli-Kli is still the mostest awesomest goblin jester ever. (I also happen to think he is the best dance teacher ever, but I’m not sure everyone agrees with me on that one.) There is a supercalifragilisticexpiashrimpocious carrying spell that is clearly the best thing since ~~skewered barnacles~~ sliced bread. Also, Miralissa the fanged elfess = YUM.

Okay, so this book is much slower paced than the first one. It is partially infected with the shudder-inducing (and usually deadly) Filling Filler Virus (FFV™), and you pretty much have to get to the 50% mark for exciting stuff to get well, um, you know, exciting and stuff. The translation is much, much, MUCH better than that of book 1, but the editing is downright catastrophic (missing letters, missing words, extra spaces, missing spaces, misspellings, typos…the works). Also, the book suffers from a desperate lack of ever-bleating goat-men. (Oops, sorry, I meant to say “Doralissians.”) BUT. Apart from that, it’s all Slightly Very Good (SVG™), so I rest in my case and stuff.

➽ And the moral of this Hey, Looks Like Alzheimer’s Is Not Yet Me After All Crappy Non Review (HLLAINYMAACNR™) is: Evgeny says the next book is the darkest in this trilogy. And now I wonder: will ANY of the characters survive the next instalment? With all their limbs intact? And no toothache? If the author keeps this up, I’m pretty sure they won’t. So. Let’s finish this with a very private message to Evil Mr Pehov: kill my boyfriend, Kli-Kli, Miralissa or any of the lucky few who miraculously managed to make it through this book and I’m unleashing the murderous crustaceans on you. But hey, no pressure and stuff.

· Book 1: Shadow Prowler ★★★★
· Book 3: Shadow Blizzard ★★★★

Actual rating: 3.545785 stars. And a half.

Better translation than book 1 - slower pace - worse editing + creepy stuff - second book syndrome + my boyfriend ~~Garrett~~ Harold + a pretty cool heist + severed limbs + yet another scrumpalicious bar fight + Kli-Kli the coolest ~~court jester~~ green bed bug ever + battles and duels to the death and stuff + villainous villains + plenty of adventure stuff =

Yes, Darwin is indeed a huge Siala fan. And a huge Pehov fan, too. I mean, he's got all the guy's books on his pre-20th century Kindle and stuff. I kid you not.

➽ Full review to come.

brian's review against another edition

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4.0

The follow up to Shadow Prowler. This sees Shadow Harold and his companions trying to take the key to Hrad Spein.

There's a lot happening along the way, with spies for The Master being found in all corners, and enemy forces being gathered to try and take the key from the group.

Quite a few surprises along the way showing how dangerous a quest they are on.

elysianfield's review against another edition

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4.0

The first book started little slow but I felt this has more action. There doesn’t actually happen all that much but there was still many battles. I should have re-read the last book because I had forgotten who was whoand what happened but it didn’t take long to remember everyone.

Harold isn’t too happy to be the supposed hero and thinks his life was much more simple as a regular thief. But he’s also started to wonder if he has changed. He didn’t have any friends or family, which he thought was a liability, and now he has whole bunch of outcasts who he can call friends. Has this made him softer?

Harold doesn’t have as much spotlight as in the last book but I didn’t feel like anyone had real spotlight over others.

I couldn’t help but laugh at Kli-Kli the goblin jester . But it seems like there is much more to him than just being a fool. Can’t wait to find out what he really is about. But my favourites were the elves. I wish there was more about them in the next book! I love it that elves resemble orcs with fangs and all.

I had some problems with one battle, mainly with the outcome at least but it’s better not to speak more about it here. I really liked this and you gotta love good fantasy book! Can’t wait to read the next book!

blodeuedd's review against another edition

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3.0

My thoughts:
It’s not often these days that I read translated books, but this is one of them as it is translated from Russian, and the translator does a good job.

In the last book they all left on a long journey, and one traveller died and the loss is still felt. They all know now that they all will not make it to Hrad Spein and even fewer will make it out of there. It will not be an easy journey.

Harold the thief doesn’t have the same spotlight as in book 2, in this one we get of the rest too. For example the goblin Kli-Kli, he plays the fool, but he is hiding something and he is much cleverer than what he looks. Kli-Kli is the humour in this book and that’s nice. As for the rest of the characters, I do like them, and I wonder at the same time how many will remain at the end. An interesting cast, but also a cast of warriors and warriors fall.

This book is all about the journey. They are travelling, going to one city, gets into trouble, and later there is some fighting too. At the end I see a glimpse of something new and interesting. But at the same time the journey does feel a bit long, and in a way not much happen at all. The more interesting parts are the dreams Harold are having, of the Houses of Pain, Love and more, about a figure called the Master, about things passed that led to the Nameless one. And the best of all, a strange world where 3 figures wants him to come and save him. It seems worlds can be created. That whole system of magic fascinated me, and I hope we get more clues to it.

Conclusion:
A good enough fantasy novel, an epic journey, different characters and races, and the hunt for something that might lead to their death. What this book did bring me was more about the world itself. And I would read the next one, and hope he gets what he is after so that I can see the world saved.

Rating:
It was short (for fantasy) so a fast read

Cover:
Good, I do like fantasy covers, and I checked the paperback for book 1 and liked that one, so I am sure the paperback cover for this one will be even better.

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