Book Review: Esaped From the Gallows by Ton van Reen (The Bokkenrijders Gang #1)

  Note: This book isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads De Bende van de Bokkenrijders #1: Ontsnapt aan de galg.

 
 Since my Bokkenrijders interest is resurfacing, here's a historical fiction book all about it! Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Secrets of Stone by Coltrane Seesequasis (A Wolf in the Sun #1)

 

This one looked promising to me. Spoilers ahead!

Book Review: The Shadowsneaker by Rob Koops (Ancient Blood #2)

  Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads Oerbloed #2: De schaduwsluiper.

Book two is finally out! Spoilers ahead!

Book Review: People of the Wolf by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear (North America's Forgotten Past #1)

This one looked very interesting to me when I found it on a secondhand book website. Let's check it out. Spoilers ahead. Also, content warning for mentions of sexual assault.

Book Review: While the Storm Rages by Phil Earle

 

The third book by Earle about kids and animals in wartime I have read this year. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Following the Moon by James Norbury

 

It's xenofiction with a wolf in it. Of course I had to read it. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Wolf Songs of Sky and Sea by Teng Rong (The Wolf Chronicles #2)

 

I wasn't too fond of book one in this series, but I do want to give the rest a look. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Balto and Togo: Hero Dogs of Alaska by Helen Moss

 

This one has been on my TBR for a while! Let's check it out! Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: The Immortal Order by Angola Hone (The Canid Chronology #2)

 

Another ARC review. Per usual, me being given a free copy of this book does not mean it'll affect my opinion on the book. These are my honest views. Also, spoilers ahead.

After Frelik's death, Ashiy and Ziliac both set out into the world to put him to rest, by bringing home some of Frelik's fur to his parents in the town of Sepplecretem. Ziliac keeps being plagued by visions and later finds out that Dusklight, Frelik's killer, is still alive. Meanwhile Ashiy hopes to find out more about his late parents by visiting their graves in Sepplecretem. Together the wolf and fox will discover more secrets tying into the world's past.

Yep, this is a solid followup to the first book. I think I honestly like this one more than the first one, though the first isn't bad by any means. But things really felt like they got going in this book.

For one, I really want to complement the world-building for this universe. I genuinely could get lost here and just learn a lot about the various species, cultures, beliefs, towns, history and lore, etc. We definitely go more in-depth in this second installment, but I still feel there's a lot of room for new aspects to be explored. Looking forward to this in future books!

This book also had my favorite setting in the series so far: Sepplecretem, a town with huge graveyards and crypts and an interesting system of animals looking after and guarding the crypts. Also, bonus points for introducing undead elements, because I really like these in fantasy.

I also really just loved some of the characters. The standout character for me this book really was Ziliac. I already liked him in book one, but in this installment he's one of its protagonists and I just loved reading his arc and POV. He's just a super interesting yet flawed character and I loved seeing his various relationships to the characters around him change throughout the book, such as the one between him and Ashiy, and the one between Ziliac and his father. Other characters I liked were Fyra (an interesting newcomer, a magical Arctic fox) and Jiji, who was just adorable. 

If I do have one criticism for this book, it's still that I don't think Ashiy is a very interesting character, an issue I also had with the first book. He's not badly written by any means, but he's just a bit bland and forgettable as far as standard fantasy protagonists go. I do like him, and his relationships with the characters around him, and his quest to find his deceased parents, but I'd be lying if I said I thought he was the most interesting out of the cast. Especially as a protagonist I keep hoping for just a little more from this character. 

I also thought that some of the infodumping once we start to get more into the history of the world and specifically the stuff regarding Keld and his daughters could get a little bit much. It was just a lot of information for me to process at once and I do wonder if it perhaps could've been spread out a little more so it's easier for the reader to process. I had to read this backstory section over a couple of times before grasping the lore. But maybe that's just on me and the fact that I don't do well with large infodumps. I personally prefer having information delivered to me in small bite-sized chunks.

Also, I spotted at least one typo and one formatting error in this book.

But this is still a very solid second installment and I do recommend it. Especially for fans of fantasy and animal xenofiction.

 Rating: 4/5

Book Review: In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen by Kiran Millwood Hargrave (Geomancer #1)

 

It has a wolf on the cover so I read it. Enough said. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: The War of the Dwarves by Markus Heitz (The Dwarves #2)

 

It has been a hot minute since I read book one, but I do want to continue this series. So let's take a look at book two. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Frost Dancers by Garry Kilworth

This is now the third xenofiction book by Kilworth I've read. One of his previous books I read before I really liked, the other I thought was just mediocre. Now let's see if his hare novel is any good. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Fire and Ash by Erin Hunter (Bamboo Kingdom #6)

 

The final book in the first arc! Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: When the Sky Falls by Phil Earle

I've read one book by Earle before and it was decent. Let's check out this one. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Wolves of the Shadowlands by Matthew Manyak

 

Another wolf xenofiction which looked interesting to me! Spoilers ahead!

Book Review: The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

 

Found this at a bookstore, it looked interesting enough. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Black Magic by Nicole Austen (Shadow of the Pack #1)

 

More wolf xenofiction, hooray. This one I've actually trying to obtain for a while, however I ran into some issues. For one, there doesn't seem to be an ebook release for this book (which is how I'd have preferred to have read it). Secondly, I finally ordered the paperback off of Bol about six months ago but it just never ended up shipping. They kept sending me notifications with "there is an issue with your order. We'll let you know when we've shipped it". And then there was radio silence and they never ended up shipping it to me. So in the end after five months I cancelled my Bol order and just got it off of Amazon instead. I'd still have preferred to order it from Bol or get the ebook but I guess I didn't have a choice here.

Ah well, spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Flaming Fate by Sophie Torro (The Wolves of Elementa #4)

 

I think(?) this is formally the final installment in the series. There are two more Elementa books out there, but from what I've seen at a brief glance they're supplemental and not formally a part of the series.

Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Ranger by Michael Hoyt

 

A wolf xenofiction I thought looked interesting. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: The Enchanted Door by Geronimo Silton (The Chronicles of Fantasy Kingdom #2)

 

Let's take a look at book two. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: The Great Timbers by James A. Kane

 

This one looked interesting to me. You know me at this point, I'll read anything with a wolf on the cover. Is it any good? Eh, let's see. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Heartsong by TJ Klune (Green Creek #3)

 

Spoilers ahead!

Book Review: The Beasts of Grimheart by Kieran Larwood (The Five Realms #3)

 

Just as a note, this will probably be the last book of this series I will be reviewing. Not because I don't want to read onward, but simply because this is the last book in the series that got translated into Dutch and is available at my library. I could buy the future installments, of course, but I don't think I'm quite engaged enough with this series to pay for the next books. Ah well, only time will tell.

Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan #1)

 

Sure, let's check this one out. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: The Heavenly Horse From the Outermost West by Mary Stanton (Heavenly Horse #1)

 

 

My friend Kat recommended me this book a while back, and now I got the ebook. Let's take a gander. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Ana's Journey by Ana Batista

 

I will read any wolf xenofiction I come across and this is no exception. Let's read Ana's story. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Timba Comes Home by Sheila Jeffries (Solomon Saga #3)

This is actually book three in a series, but since it can be read separately I have no qualms with reading and reviewing it here. Spoilers ahead.
 

Book Review: Beyond the Sea of Ice by William Sarabande (The First Americans #1)

 

If you know me, you know I like reading prehistoric fiction, even if not all of it is good. Here's another one that interested me when I found it. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: In the Heart of the Wilderness by Christopher Ross (Clarissa #1)

 Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads
Clarissa #1: Im Herzen die Wildnis.

Christopher Ross' books have been on my radar for a while now. The dude certainly likes writing about wolves and huskies. Sadly my German skills before weren't good enough to check out these books, but by now I've finally reached the level where I'm able to read and understand the books. So let's have a look, spoilers ahead.

Book Review: The Golden Mole by Katherine Rundell

 

This one has been on my reading list for a while since I first saw it announced in an add. I actually reserved a library copy, but for some reason it wasn't ready for me to pick up until many months later. But now I finally got it, so let's have a look.

Book Review: The Dwarves by Markus Heitz (The Dwarves #1)

 

This is one book I've been aware for for a long time but never felt a longing to actually pick up until recently. But now I did. Let's take a looksee. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: The Elders' Quest by Erin Hunter (Warriors: Changing Skies #1)

 

New year, new Warriors arc. Spoilers ahead.

Book Review: Survival at the Zoo by Maarten Frankenhuis

 

Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads Overleven in de dierentuin.

A non-fiction about Artis (Amsterdam Zoo) during the World War II. This one seemed interesting to me, so I picked it up. 

Book Review: Scytodes thoracica & 99 Other Animals by Jelle Reumer

 

 

Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads De getijgerde lijmspuiter & 99 andere beesten.

A cheap book I bought because it seemed interesting to me. Let's check it out!

Book Review: The Middle Ages by Miri Rubin (Oxford's Very Short Introductions series #404)

 

Another one of this series!