Prisoner

The Contractors #2

by Andrew Ball

Following a mock tribunal comprised of unfeeling elder magicians, Daniel is sentenced to the bowels of Hell – but what he finds there defies his wildest expectations.

The prison that is Hell has long since been transformed into a series of vicious competitions pitting the prisoners against one another. The bloody debacle is broadcast live by PrisonWatch, the ruthless corporation headed by the demon emperor, Beelzebub.

But Hell isn’t just an exercise in profit or a dumping ground for exiles like Daniel. The magic that ensures Hell’s existence is bound in complex history and forbidden secrets that underline the relationship between humans and demons. With only hints of the truth to guide him, Daniel must fight to keep his head above the political water and escape his role as a new pawn in an ancient conflict. Along the way, he’ll meet old friends, forge alliances, and make new enemies as he strives to beat PrisonWatch at their own game.

On Earth, the Vorid have been beaten back, but the war is only just beginning. Eleanor Astor struggles to bring her personal principles into alignment with the politics of the Ivory Dawn. Suddenly at odds against the order of magicians by which she was raised, she is a lone voice advocating for the contractors, and it’s only a matter of time until the Vorid strike again. With the fate of the entire world resting on the outcome, she’ll be pressed to hold the line until she can find a way to free Daniel…somehow.

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Fiction

480 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2020

About the author

Andrew Stephen Ball is an indie author and pharmacist. He practices in New Hampshire, where he lives with his fiance. He's a lifelong enthusiast of fantasy and science fiction, the genres in which he spends most of his time when writing.

He does not trust people who don't like chocolate.

Connect with Andrew:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Andrew...

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Andrew_S_Ball

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Andrew-Ball/e/B...

Reviews

[Bill Davis]

This book already has 31 ratings. And it has not even been released as of 2/25/19. What the heck. If it’s anywhere near as good as the first book, I will read it for five stars. And as for people who only rated one star, maybe you should just stay out of here.

[Boone · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am sure this book would be great... but I have waited years for nothing. Despite many promises for a release, we have gotten nothing. I would understand if it was once or twice, but this has happened time and time again. I will change my review once he actually publishes the book.

[Cody · Rating 1 out of 5]

After amazing work did with excellent book 1 and over 4yrs wait for this with many promises of release broken was expecting more of greatness and good carry on to book 1.

So imagine my surprise when read through this then looked at top reviews given and just want to say what book did you read as not same version of one I read that for sure wish was they made sound great.

Ok onto my read of this I'm truly sorry to say but this was a terrible carry on from book 1 truly disappointing and let down, there was no story progress at all from beginning no power increase or new ways using it or new powers ability extra for mc, fights was overly done and no one seemed to die or hert really so was a-team feel to it. And end fight was ridicules, went on way way too long and ended up feeling repetitive wather then exciting just got boring. We like finally end nope does something so survived and on it went and on and on sigh.
Then was his ideas on justice forced on everyone and only his opinion was right all offers wrong really gosh was just enraging read and put mildly didnt agree with him at all. (And most bk this.)
Then the bore that was parts on earth with girl character was just way way too long and was dull to boring so good only for skipping at best.

But like end book conversation between Lucifer and diplomat/representative gave hope and excitement back for book 3, hopefully author do way better.

Left so long to give a review of this so could calm down and give a cool headed review that was fair and thoughtful not just dissapointed and sad at what did hear and lack of.

[Jeff Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

So word words words book two ends where book 1 ended

Common problem with such long wait between books that it’s truly hard to deliver. That being said this is a train wreck. Was this the same story? Was this just throwing darts at a board and trying to pull a new story out? Was this book even needed?

[Bret · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not A Good Sequel For $10

I waited for this sequel for 4 or 5 years and all I can say is I came away very disappointed. One of the biggest problems was there was Just Too Much Useless Dialogue. Another deficiency was the lack of any real action. This was truly not worth the $10 and I will not be reading any more novels by this author.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: 4.5 Stars

BOOK 2 IS FINALLY HERE!!

After years of waiting, Prisoner picks up right where Contractor left off. And it definitely lives up to the wait! I really enjoyed this one and I'll be patiently waiting for the next. However, I did have a few minor gripes:

(minor spoilers ahead)

The good:

- Coming in at a whopping 850+ pages, I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of story we'd get to chew on after all this time.

- After realizing the first time that a chapter was from Eleanor's perspective, I was a little concerned. I thought I'd have to slog through to get back to the interesting Daniel stuff. Boy was I wrong! Eleanor's chapters actually ended up being some of my favorite. Of everyone, she undergoes the most development in this book. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed the predicament she winds up in and I'm excited to see how her rag-tag Guardians-of-the-Galaxy-esque team will work out.

- We got LOADS of new characters this time around and a huge expansion of the world building along with them! Everyone who's anyone has a plan and they're all starting to come to fruition around Daniel.

- I was worried after the end of book 1 that we'd see a book 2 where Daniel just doesn't get to use his powers, which would be an especially big bummer after the huge boost he got at the end of 1. Turns out I didn't need to be worried--when Daniel fights, he gets percentages of his power back at a time, forcing him to think outside the box and test his power in ways he hadn't before. Not to mention that when things really start to hit the fan, we do finally get the all out 100% brawl that we've been waiting for.

The bad:

- While it's true that anyone who's anyone in this book has a plan (and they all seem to revolve around Daniel), our main characters don't really have anything. It felt like our 3 main characters (Daniel/Eleanor/Jack) spend the book reacting to circumstances around them and getting pushed in the direction others are taking them. In book 1, we saw Daniel forging himself into a strong Contractor (both physically and mentally) and making decisions he eventually feels the backlash of. But here, it feels more like he's playing by others' rules the whole time. Given his position at the end of the book, it'll be interesting to see if he does start to make his own path again in the next installment.

- There is a lot of exposition in this book. Granted the world has gotten a lot bigger here and there are a ton of new concepts, species and powers in hell. But it did feel like the pacing of the book was bogged down quite a bit by sudden long explanations to Daniel, sometimes in the middle of a big challenge.

[Luis Tamarez]

More words than book 1 but less content

I would like to preface this by saying that if you liked contractors enough to wait this long then read this book, one to support the author so he doesn't give up and to keep the series alive. With that being said, I have to be honest hoping that the author can read this and glean some insight. A good 70% (the Hell games) of the book could have been condensed into 30%. The Hell games adds very little to progress the story. They feel too much like filler. There is little to no main character progression, the side characters do a lot more growing than the mc who keeps repeating the same stupid decisions that got him locked up in the first place. Considering the 5 year hiatus I was hoping for a more complete story, watching the mc stumble through the plot was like watching a blind and deaf man playing Marco Polo. For the next book I'd like to see our MC not just grow in power but a little more into his role whatever that may be because watching a static piece being moved around without struggling or questioning, is a little boring.

[Lukas Lovas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually, I'm not too happy with the second volume....The first one had a great idea and characters. The second one had a pretty good idea and story, but the execution lacked in a few ways that I just can't get over. 1st - after entering hell, our main character is completely reliant on what he's told. He doesn't do anything proactively, doesn't try to learn anything, he just follows instructions and doesn't think for himself at all. No checking the prices, no trying to understand the place where he ended up...so later on, he's completely clueless and helpless. Compared to the first book, here, he was a brute - strong power but no brains. It felt disappointing, like the story needed to put him aside while it developped further and he was too overpowered, so he had to become stupid to be a balanced character.

[Sunny · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first book was great till the end where i was really disappointed by the weakness protagonist showed... its even worse in Book 2 ..stupid, naive, blindly trusting and expecting fairness in a power hungry, law of the jungle world. Not to mention there is so much Eleanor's POV that i absolutely do not care about. Waste of time.. seems just going down the hill.

[Jonathan Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

[Brandon Freund · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's hard for me to give a bad review because I feel that if you're disciplined and skilled enough to publish a book, then you're already deserving of praise. But here goes...

Not my cup of tea. Or a big spectacle that goes nowhere. The second book of a series that can't decide what genre it wants to be. First, I'll comment on that. Science? Magic? Science is magic. And there's dimensions. And a multiverse. But fantasy creatures. But this book is more LitRPG than anything, which the first book was not. Then hints of space opera? Hell is real. But no mention of heaven. But it's actually a gameshow. And there are demons in hell obviously, but then all of the sudden the demon plane gives rise to every fantasy creature, like elves and dwarves as well? So is this a fantasy novel too? I just can't get into this world.

This installment had it's fun parts. They're far too infrequent though and you trudge through endless internal monologues and pointless boring conversations. And in the end the protagonist accomplishes nothing. I mean it ends the exact same way as the last book did. Tag the epilogue from this novel onto the first book and you get the EXACT same story. I guess a few things changed with some Earthlings but they didn't accomplish much so who cares. It's like Raiders of the Lost Ark without Indiana Jones. Same story. I guess I just didn't like it.

[M Hamed · Rating 2 out of 5]

i think i outgrew the excitement of the first book

a well developed ,well thought and much loved by an the (indie) author
it took him five years to write it,and it shows.there was love writing this

but it was slow ,dull and with no plot
the only thing that extinguished the first book .the world building , the sense of scale and most likely my own naivety .just isn't there anymore

5 years of waiting , and it had nothing

[Hillary Umane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good follow-up to the first book

I enjoyed this book..I really did. However, it took me a while to get invested again in the MC (Daniel). That’s to be expected with a long hiatus between book 1 and 2.

One of my issues with this book is how naive and sanctimonious Daniel was for the majority of the book, especially after the magicians betrayed and treated him by banishing him to hell. I understand wanting to stand up for what’s right, but I expected him to be more hurt and jaded after book 1. In the big scheme of things, this wasn’t much of an issue for me, but I actually rolled my eyes reading sections where Daniel was chastising his friend for his perfectly (at the moment) justifiable hatred for the conclave of earth magicians.

I also could not care less about the chapters in the book with Eleanors POV. Honestly, waste of space in my opinion. She’s way too much of a fragile princess and I found it unbelievable that she could actually win any fights with other trained magicians, not to talk about the vorid.

Finally, with all the mourning of Rachel in this book, I really, really, REALLY hope she doesn’t somehow magically come back to life in the next book

[Damir Isovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was, in a single word, good. Spoilers ahead:














However, it had some problems, and a better rating might've been 4.5, closer to 4. I gave it a 5 to counteract all the impatient 1-star reviews.
In short, it's a nice, if very overdue, sequel, but it's plagued by the following issues:
1. Daniel just gets shit on so hard throughout the entire book that it gets tiring.
2. It felt overly lengthy considering how much actually happened.
3. Daniel is way too trusting and naive, it's getting a bit absurd at this point.
4. The human magicians are... Even more suicidal in their desire to cling to power than lemmings when faced with a cliff. I am honestly baffled by anyone being THAT deadset on holding onto power. It kind of felt way too illogical.

Otherwise, the book is very solid and mostly recaptures the glory of the original. Mostly.

[Andrew Girouard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very welcome surprise

As long as the wait was, it truly resulted in a well polished book. The action is great, the characters and their motivations all make sense given their positions, and I enjoyed every moment of jumping back into this world on the brink of destruction. This book did a spectacular job of seamlessly reminding the reader of important information from the first book as needed, I haven't read the first in several years and it kept me from ever feeling like I was missing something without hitting me over the head with a wall of exposition about the first book. Looking forward to book 3!

[Shane Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Journey of a moron...

it’s a good premise, with a few plot holes that generally don’t get in the way of the story… Where this book falls down is in the main character acting like a moron, getting himself into a crazy difficult situation, and continuing to act like a moron… Which drags this book out, and it’s essentially filler… Think of it this way, book one is a story, bok two he takes a vacation to an island and has adventures on the island, likely that continues in book 3 where at the end he finally gets off the island, and in book4 the main story likely continues… So the contrived device that has the MC go to the island become super annoying...

[Gideon Idowu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved every minute of it! After being so upset at having to wait so long for book 2, the author did not disappoint. There was no predictability in my opinion, no overuse of deus ex machinas, and the grammar used wasn’t overly complex, making the story easy to follow, unlike some other fantasy novels I’ve read. An enjoyable read through and through for me! I hope the next book doesn’t take as long.

[Shay Hayden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!

I thought I couldn’t be happier when I finally heard about this new installment. One I thought would never be written. Here I sit though, ecstatic that the world has grown so much and will continue on! This story is unique to most all others I have personally read, and the characters are so real I feel like I could touch them. No matter how long it takes for subsequent installments to be written, I will read them.
This review has been brought to you by Planet Express.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well worth the wait!

Very much enjoyed the new entry into the Contractor series; it's been a long wait but I found it to be worth it. Good sized book too; with some good action scenes and charachter interactions, as well as structuring the magic system better.
Not much else to say, great read and looking forward to the sequel!

[Vik Samuelu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sad disappointment

A long wait followed by sad disappointment. MC has limited direction with minimal character development. Especially after a strong storyline and strong characters in the first book.

[Anthony Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well worth the wait

This is an especially well-crafted universe. I remember reading the first installment with great enjoyment. The only downside of this book is the inevitable wait for the next installment

[Ruben Montoya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story! Wish It progressed a little longer before the end.

The author is an excellent story teller, just wished our down on his luck hero made a little more progress before the end. Perhaps book 3 will put that to rights.

[Cory Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda garbage

I remember liking the first one much more than this, the story telling is good , an interesting engaging storyline, but I almost quit reading several times because the mc is so repeatedly unbelievably moronic.

[Vroom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, it's more a 3.5 because it's more than "I liked it" and slightly less than "I loved it". The book boils down to three fights and an unsatisfactory ending but it's so great to see the story move forward. I hope this sells enough copies that we get book 3

[Jane T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like many, I waited patiently for Andrew to complete and release this sequel to “Contractors.” That patience was rewarded with another good read. Ball continues to develop the characters from #1 and introduces some unexpected historical characters in Prisoner. I’m a fan.

[Harry · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent sequel

Good storytelling, very enjoyable. I'm glad I didn't wait for the audio version. No spoilers, if you enjoyed The Contractors then this book is worth reading.

[Bruce Paulk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read!

A worthy sequel of Andrew Ball's first book, The Contractors. Looking forward to the next book. May it come sooner than this one. 😆

[Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you!

I have been waiting so long to read this book thank you so much for finally finishing! Thank you thank you thank you!

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been looking forward to this book for so many years. I know the author had to get his real life sorted out. I just hope this book isn't off because the author took so long to get back to it (different frames of mind while writing affect how a book goes), and that I enjoy it.

I didn't do a reread, but I still remember being hyped for a sequel. I hope this does book one justice.

I don't know if this is just me, but the prose from the start of the book felt off? A little flowery? Purple? I can't remember the first book, but the descriptions in this book feels a tad too much.

My god, Daniel is a bleeding heart hypocrite. He is telling his "friend" to turn himself into the authorities, the same authorities he himself has noticed is corrupt.
I really hate people like him. I had too many years of reading the self sacrificial idiot to put up with it.

If Daniel gets back to earth and surrenders himself to the magicians again to show he isn't a threat, I'm done with this series. The stupid banter doesn't help. Was book one this bad? Filled with cringey kiddie banter? I mean there is gore and cussing, so it obviously isn't written for kids, but the banter makes me wonder.

I can't remember if the first book had multiple POVs, but I don't like that so many pages were devoted to "the duchess". I also expected Daniel would have made some progress by the end of this book, not continually kicked and beaten down.
I really hope this isn't going to be some stupid moral metaphor or analogy of how Daniel keeps getting beat down, but he still cares about people and wants to do good in the end.
I had decades of that crap, I'm fed up of the bad guys doing what they want and getting away with it.

I hope Daniel pays back everyone who he gave trust to, and then turned around betrayed him. He can't forgive getting tortured.

I will hesitantly read the sequel, but I don't like how this series is going. I feel he will try to make someone else the Prime Protagonist in book three. If that is the case, and Daniel is relegated to short POVs, I'm done with this series and the author.

3/5 Stars

[Jeremy Mejia · Rating 2 out of 5]

After the first book I was going on potential. Hope for Daniel to overcome his situation and show some character growth. Thought maybe he'd quickly get back from Hell and somehow revive Rachel.

He'd been called a necromancer before. Perhaps he was alluding to a deeper aspect of his power.

Maybe he'd finally grow some balls and become judge/jury/executioner and settle into his power.

Man this book felt like the author had no idea where he was going. So many different plot lines.

I honestly didn't believe he would k3ep Daniel trapped in hell for the entirety of the book. I have never seen a story feel like so much of a drag in my life. So much time wasted on stupid stupid tiny happenings. Felt like he was filling up the word count for real.

Out of nowhere, Eleanor becomes the leader of the contractors. Felix becomes a contractor and our main character becomes a nobody stuck at the bottom of hell.

He has no special way out. The invisible barefoot woman in white hasn't made an appearance. He's doing low tier trading. He's literally regressed when it comes to involvement in the plot.

Not sure why he thought it was a good idea to set him up like this and seemingly not have a clever way to level him up in the process.

Anyways when I find myself skipping through a story the author is definitely putting in "filler" in a very real sense.

Letdown tbh.