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MY ⭐️ RATING: 5/5
Format: Kindle Whispersync
BOOK DESCRIPTION
A band of fabled mercenaries tour a wild fantasy landscape, battling monsters in arenas in front of thousands of adoring fans. But, a secret and dangerous gig ushers them to the frozen north, and the band is never one to waste a shot at glory.
Live fast, die young.
Tam Hashford is tired of working at her local pub, slinging drinks for world-famous mercenaries and listening to the bards sing of adventure and glory in the world beyond her sleepy hometown.
When the biggest mercenary band of all, led by the infamous Bloody Rose, rolls into town, Tam jumps at the chance to sign on as their bard. It’s adventure she wants — and adventure she gets as the crew embark on a quest that will end in one of two ways: glory or death.
It’s time to take a walk on the wyld side.
MY REVIEW
There’s something really special about this series to me, maybe it’s because it’s infused with music that I love from the 70’s in Kings of the Wyld and 80’s in Bloody Rose, but it’s just incredible and so much fun. I first read this when it was released in August of 2018 and absolutely loved it, that was prior to my review writing so I had to re-read it and give it its proper love. This time around I decided to do it with audio and went through it with the Kindle whispersync’d version, and I have to say it was even better this than I remember. I forgot many things about the story and hearing them for the second time just solidified the way I feel about this story and series. Kings of the Wyld is what started my love of reading, so this series holds a special place in my heart. And in honor of this being infused with 80’s rock with references to bands like The Cure, Duran Duran, White Snake, Skid Row, Roy Orbison, The Bangles, and many, many more, I decided to write this review while jamming out to the Spotify playlist (here) by Nicholas Eames for the book, and it’s worth a jam session!
One of the things I love the most about this series is that it’s technically a stand-alone trilogy and you can read Bloody Rose without reading Kings of the Wyld, but you’re going to miss a lot and not feel the same way about characters and their arcs, so while it is stand-alone, KotW is a must read first. I loved Kings of the Wyld, but what makes Bloody Rose better is that the stakes felt more grounded and costing to the cast, one of the few criticisms KotW gets is that, and Eames took it upon himself to make sure that changed. While KotW felt like a fun romp, this was more serious making the fear of losing a character much more realistic. A death that got me emotional 5 years ago, left me just as emotional or more, I ugly cried then, and ugly cried again.
“So we went and joined a band. We left our homes, abandoned our families, and hit the road. We spent every day and night with our bandmates. We ate with them, drank with them, argued over whether or not a hydrake counts as one kill or seven.”
The characters and their abilities is really what sets this apart from Kings of the Wyld, with Bloody Rose leading the pack, she has a very interesting band of mates with some unique abilities, like the summoner, Cura and the shaman, Brune, who without being spoilery, can do some really cool things as well as the druin Freecloud! Six years after the events of KotW, the Rock & Roll express has hit the road again, but while this story is about Rose, it’s more about Tam and her experience with Rose and the band that make up Fable. The epic nail-biting battles that they face against the Winter Queen and the Simurg, the tragic loss, and the incredible growth that each member faces throughout the book. On top of that there are special appearances by some very familiar faces and a few that sadly, weren’t present. One of those I’ll mention is Moog, I love Moog, his humor is needed as much in this as it was in KotW.
The narration by Katherine Fenton was phenomenal, and in my opinion, far better than the narration in KotW. She delivered lines with such a ferocity and a range of emotions that you could feel it coming off the pages, I even got goosebumps. It’s only January but she is definitely at the head of the line for my 2024 favorite narration award at the end of the year, and she may be tough to beat. What I do know is that going back through both of these has really got me excited for book 3, Outlaw Empire whenever that may come out. Eames has said that he’s had some struggles writing it, and with it being the finale and based on 90’s grunge/rap, I’m more than happy to wait until he’s got it perfected to his liking.
Wolfmantula.com 