master_jedi_reader's review
3.0
Ok this one was tough, well the first book, Athyra was tough to get through. I was literally bored to tears, some interesting things happened but they were few and far between. In the meantime the repetitious actions of Savn had be snoring. I give it a 1.5..maybe 2 and that's me being generous. Thankfully the second book, Orca, things picked up. How to describe this story; it was like a Sherlock Holmes tale, meets Bourne identity with undertones of 'The Firm', crazy sauce. Several times I found myself having to reread something to figure out what was happening. The ending still threw me for a loop. Easily 4 star rating, I've already ordered the next collected volume in the series and can't wait to start it ^_^. Final rating, 2.75, rounded to 3 cause I feel generous.
wildflowerz76's review
2.0
Athyra - 2/28/14 - I read the first two of this series some time last year. And the next two a month or so ago. So when I made my last Amazon order, I got the next 4. This one? This one's making me wish I hadn't. I don't mind the change in perspective from Vlad to someone else. But the story is just so damned boring. Nothing much happens. The boy isn't interesting in the least. The age thing is confusing me. Perhaps they've explained it in previous books and I've forgotten, but still. I'm reading Orca now and it's better, but not great. I'll probably stop reading this series for a while after I finish it and try the next two later. Ug.
Orca - 3/1/14 - /sigh What the hell? Is it me? I loved the first 5 of this series. So much that when I did my last book ordered, I went ahead and bought the next two volumes (4 books total). I'm regretting that now. So this one still has Savn from Athyra, but he's broken. Maybe it's because I didn't really care about his character in the previous book, but I found this one incredibly tedious. It seemed like a lot of trouble to go through to get Mother's house back when she really didn't seem like, in the beginning, she was going to be able to help Savn at all. I'm putting the next volume in this series away for a while. I already own it, so I'll probably attempt to read it, but it won't be for a while. Here's hoping it's better when I finally get to it.
Orca - 3/1/14 - /sigh What the hell? Is it me? I loved the first 5 of this series. So much that when I did my last book ordered, I went ahead and bought the next two volumes (4 books total). I'm regretting that now. So this one still has Savn from Athyra, but he's broken. Maybe it's because I didn't really care about his character in the previous book, but I found this one incredibly tedious. It seemed like a lot of trouble to go through to get Mother's house back when she really didn't seem like, in the beginning, she was going to be able to help Savn at all. I'm putting the next volume in this series away for a while. I already own it, so I'll probably attempt to read it, but it won't be for a while. Here's hoping it's better when I finally get to it.
arthurbdd's review
4.0
Compilation of two books in the series; the former is a bit of a departure from the usual style, the latter offers more business as usual. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2007/05/27/vlads-next-two/
wmhenrymorris's review
For some reason I had it in my head that these are the boring middle books of the series, but I'm wrong. The emotional intensity and complex social and economic politics (in Athyra hpyer-local, in Orca empire-spanning) found in these two novels makes them pulse with energy and meaning. But maybe they're better read close in time to the previous books and the ones that follow in order to have that effect. In other words: a big part of their power is their embedded-ness in the overall story rather than what they are on their own.
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