This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot. wordpress.com & Bookstooge’s Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.

Title: Chaos Unleashed

Series: The Chaos Born

Author: Drew Karpyshyn

Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 418

Format: Kindle digital edition

Synopsis:

The 4 Chosen Children of Chaos all work together to stop Daemron from destroying Legacy.

A book filled with Heroic mediocrity where everything is scripted out well in advance and you know how the story ends.

Girl that no one know what to do with, heroic sacrifice. Check

Boy and Girl who hate each other but love each other, get together. Check

Dispossessed Prince, with Barbarian Babe, decides to wander the world. Check.

Bad Guy loses. Dies at hands of vengeful minions. Check

My Thoughts:

If this had been a Forgotten Realms book, I might have given it 3 Stars. But because Karpyshyn supposedly came up with, and executed [ha, that is WAY to appropriate], this series on his own, there is no mercy.

This was rubbish. It was cliched, hackneyed ideas coupled with extremely mediocre writing that wasn’t tense, brilliant, original or even greatly entertaining. It just “was”. As I was reading along, I was actually embarrassed for Karpyshyn for writing this. I’ve enjoyed most of his other books in other Universes [Star Wars, Forgotten Realms, etc] and I could put anything I found dumb down to the universe and not him. But this? All I could think was “This is the best he can imagine?” I really hope he goes back to and stays with, other pre-created universes.

My other gripe was how the 4 Chosen worked AGAINST Daemron even though they were spawned directly from his own magic/life essence.  It just didn’t ring true for me.

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot. wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge’s Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.

 

 

 

 

Title: The Scorched Earth

Series: The Chaos Born

Author: Drew Karpyshyn

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: SFF

Pages: 384

Format: Kindle

 

 

Synopsis:

The forest people are going to war, under the direction of one of the Minions, who has wormed his way into the Queen’s confidence. They are going after the plains people, because the Minion can sense the Ring and the Sword, 2 of the 3 Talismans.

It is now up to the 4 Children to stave off the army, survive and gather all 3 talismans together.

But with the Order going on the rampage against any with chaos abilities, and the forest mages on the warpath, can they succeed?

 

My Thoughts:

I actually enjoyed this more than the previous book, mainly because the 4 chosen ones were all together and we didn’t have to follow 3 or 4 storylines. This time around we followed the Chosen and the Minions.

The war between the forest mages and the plains warriors was good. Nothing like battles to move the story along. Not much else to say really. It is just “good but mediocre” kind of fantasy that fills the mind, much like iceberg lettuce fills the stomach.

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot. wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge’s Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.

Title: Children of Fire

Series: The Chaos Born

Author: Drew Karpyshyn

Rating: 3 of 5 Battle Axes

Genre: SFF

Pages: 512

Format: Kindle

 

Synopsis:

A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away…

The gods gave a human all the power he needed to fight the creatures of Chaos. After winning, said human turned on the gods themselves. They banished him and his followers from the world and then pretty much disappeared.

That “Legacy” of banishing is weakening and the Destroyer has sent his essence to be reborn into the world so that his work can be finished from that side.

This is the story of those 4 children.

 

My Thoughts:

I’ve had some up and down’s with Karpyshyn’s Star Wars books, so wasn’t sure what to expect from his own series. Overall, I enjoyed this. His videogame background shows, a lot, however. The way the chapters were set up was very “cut scene”.

Cliched fantasy. Thing is, most of the time I LIKE cliched fantasy, so this was A-OK. I think my only “huh?” moment was when it appears that the Destroyer’s children are as much a danger to him as possible allies. With him being able to now send his minions through the Legacy, why did he send over his essence to be reborn? I didn’t see the point of that.

This was in no way bad. It simply didn’t stand out from anything in the SFF field that I’ve read before. It was enjoyable and I’ll be continuing the series until it either ends or goes bad 🙂