Review: Never Die (Mortal Techniques #1) by Rob J. Hayes

MY ⭐️ RATING: 5/5

Format: Kindle Whispersync

BOOK DESCRIPTION

The Mortal Techniques novels are a series of stand-alone stories that can be read entirely independently, set in the award -winning Mortal Techniques universe. Samurai, shinigami, vengeful spirits, and an impossible quest. The Emperor of Ten Kings has plunged Hosa into war, and the gods are angry. When the god of death gives Ein a mission to kill the immortal emperor, he knows he can’t do it alone. He needs allies, heroes who will fight for him. How else can an eight-year-old boy hope to do the impossible? Whispering Blade, Iron Gut Chen, the Century Blade, and Flaming Fist.
These are all names of legend. And the god of death has given Ein a way to bind them to his cause. There is only one catch. In order to serve him, they must first die. Never Die is a stand alone set in the world of Mortal Techniques. It’s a wuxia adventure filled with samurai, shinigami, heroes, and vengeful spirits.

MY REVIEW

A young boy named Ein is on a mission sent by the Shingami, the god of death, to remove the emperor from power. On that mission he seeks out heroes to help him on his quest… but the only way the heroes can join him, is if they die first. I am blown away by the Goodreads rating of this book (currently at 3.90), this book was far too good to have such a low rating.

Never Die has been on my TBR for some time and I just kept pushing it back and back because of the rating. DO NOT LET THAT RATING FOOL YOU. I let it fool me for far too long and when I finally decided to give it a shot, it completely blew me away! I got a lot of video game and anime vibes from this, and you get that feeling from the very beginning. The Tekken/ Mortal Kombat vibes I got were from the fights which were so vivid, creative and exciting! I could honestly feel my excitement rising every time there was a fight like I was back to being a kid sitting on the floor with my brother as we played the video games, and there are a bunch of amazing fight scenes! This is fast paced and action packed from beginning to end and will leave you frothing for more, and I loved the way each hero has their own personal technique that makes them special! And MY GOD what a final 10%… I am truly mind blown 🤯

“It takes a lifetime of evil to be a villain, and only one moment of good to be a hero.”

It’s always good when you get a narrator that can deliver not only great characters with a wide range of voices, but the emotions to go along with them, and Kim Bretton did such a fantastic job delivering that! Speaking of the characters, they are all fantastic as well, Zhihao (she-how) may have a slight advantage as my favorite because I love the reluctant hero trope and the banter he has with the rest of the heroes, especially Iron Gut, honestly kept me rolling. All the characters are great though, they each give the story their own piece of the puzzle that makes it better. Rob has now moved up into one of my favorites after reading this, so I now plan to go through his entire catalog lol.