Book #88 of 2023: SunRider | DNF: Fury's Gauntlet

[thistlechaser]

SunRider (Book 1 of 3 in The SunRider Saga Trilogy) by Rafael Hohmann.

It's been so long since I last read a self-published book that I enjoyed, it felt like it would never happen again.

Another reviewer described this book as: "What if superheroes were introduced to a sword and sorcery world?" That's not an exactly right description, but it's close.

Set in a fantasy world, a few magical pieces of armor fall from the sky. Anyone who puts one on gets one single super power. It could be something useful like flight or super speed, but it could be something less useful like identifying the true owner of an item or being able to call the closest frog to you.

The book followed two storylines. The first was Finn, an orphan slave working in mines, and the second was a cult that worshiped pain and death... their own pain and death.

The part of the story about Finn was great, I really enjoyed it. We followed his life from an orphan slave to a free person. Along the way he got a piece of that magical armor and made his first friend.

The other storyline was harder for me to get into. I had a really, really hard time believing humans would join or stay in a cult where you badly hurt yourself on a regular basis (cut your limbs off, stab both of your knees out...) and that their only desire in life was to die. But the book spent a lot more time with Finn, so I just went along with the chapters about the cult.

The book did a wonderful thing: Before each chapter was a 1-3 page blurb from a fictional book that existed in the story's world, a tale about some part of their culture, or some other random happening from anytime in the story world's history. It was such wonderful worldbuilding! I looked forward to every new chapter for that part.

The author had some grammar issues, and unfortunately he didn't learn they were mistakes between the first and second book. For some reason he way overused hyphens in really weird ways, he didn't really understand how some dialogue tags are supposed to work ("Yes." he whispered.), and some other things. It wasn't awful, but it was really noticeable.

All in all though, I really enjoyed this book. It was a long read, but since I was enjoying it, I was happy for the book's length.

DNF #169: Fury's Gauntlet: (Book 2 of 3 in The SunRider Saga Trilogy) by Rafael Hohmann.

Sigh. Even before I finished book #1, I got 2 and 3 so I'd have them on hand and be able to start them right away.

Book 1 had a big buildup. The pain cult was basically taking over the world and Finn and the others like him had to stop them.

Book 2 sent Finn and three friends on a side quest. A character in the book literally called it a quest for him. For me, it removed all the tension; the story went from THE WHOLE WORLD COULD END to Finn and his friends are teenagers hiking in the woods.

Unfortunately the pain cult took up a lot more of this book, too. And worse, the leader of it was just so over the top bad... Literally the strongest person on the planet. Insane. And EVIL EVIL OH SO EVIL.

Add onto that that so much was about relationships now. The quest group was made up of four people: Finn, Finn's best friend, the girl Finn liked, and the guy Finn was afraid the girl liked. Even though there was ZERO reason for him to think she liked the other guy. Sigh.

At first I skipped the chapters about the cult, but then I found I wasn't really interested in Finn's chapters anymore either...

Sad. I wish I could have enjoyed this book as much as the first one.

Comments

[jeane nevarez (from livejournal.com)]

I love it when books include their own fictional books as part of the worldbuilding. Encountered that recently with Eleanor and Park . . . and then the author went and wrote out the fictional story that was part of her fiction! Ha. I wouldn't like reading about that cult, either. Bad enough to encounter stories with self-flagellation, which I know was a thing- I came across that in a few fantasy or historical fiction in the past (usually to do with some fanatical religion) and I don't think I ever finished any of those. Can't even remember what they were, now.

( I'm reading Jaguar Princess right now, BTW, and finding it quite compelling, even if the beginning was a little rough! )

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ooh I'm really glad Jaguar Princess is working for you! And same, the book-in-a-book idea was just so wonderful.

Thankfully at least the descriptions of the cult weren't graphic. One of the minor characters cut off his own hand and it was maybe one sentence of description and then a moment later another sentence about the blood spurting out. Still I just didn't buy the logic of the group at all.

Wow, Eleanor and Park have an insane amount of ratings on Goodreads! 1,134,117 ratings — 76,558 reviews. Usually I'd consider a couple thousand to be a lot. The stats on it are really interesting: There are 431,256 5 star reviews, but the highest voted review (more than twice as much as the next highest review) is a 1 star one.

[jeane nevarez (from livejournal.com)]

Oooops- wait, I said the wrong title. I mean, Fangirl!! Totally different book. But they were both very good. (And I don't get why all the one-star reviews, much less why they were "voted" for?)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the one star reviews on that book seem a little weird, but I guess the book just didn't work for those people.

And ooh, I've heard of Fangirl! I haven't read that one yet though.