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Luck & Loose Ends
Fortunes have always been made at someone else’s expense. No one understands this better than a thief, and Kalisa & Peytra are thieves like no other. When rumors of vast riches on a new continent reach their ears, they spare no haste in stowing aboard vessels bound for the New World.
Kalisa gets more than he bargained for during the heist of a nobleman’s manor when he stumbles upon a man afflicted by a bizarre and preternaturally violent condition.
As the madness spreads, the Kalisa and Peytra discover that the afflicted are being controlled by a daemoniac entity long thought banished from the world. With monsters and religious fanatics closing in on all sides, Kalisa and Peytra must avail upon their wits and each other to escape the continent alive. However, just because they are partners does not mean they can trust one another.
Kalisa gets more than he bargained for during the heist of a nobleman’s manor when he stumbles upon a man afflicted by a bizarre and preternaturally violent condition.
As the madness spreads, the Kalisa and Peytra discover that the afflicted are being controlled by a daemoniac entity long thought banished from the world. With monsters and religious fanatics closing in on all sides, Kalisa and Peytra must avail upon their wits and each other to escape the continent alive. However, just because they are partners does not mean they can trust one another.
302 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 24, 2017
4 people want to read
About the author
Ryan Hodge
7 books3 followers@RJHodgeAuthor
Yes, I’m yet another Fantasy & SciFi author. I think we might be born in batches -BUT there’s a few things you should know about *this* one. I believe the essence of fiction in general exists to make people think; to offer perspectives that are under-explored in the mainstream.
You will find that my work won’t offer focus-group approved characters, and you’ll never find me chasing trends. I will explore familiar territory, but trust that I will take you far off the beaten path. If ever you read one of my books and say ‘that was just like [blank]’, then I’ve done a bad job. I approach fiction this way because the books that most influenced myself and my writing did exactly that.
My story begins at Sun Valley mall in Walnut Creek, CA, and a bookstore therein. You see, when I was a child, my mother deemed no visit to the mall complete without a trip to Borders or Barnes & Noble. It was there that I was exposed to both contemporary and classic literature. Over time, the voices and prose of those authors began to rub off on me. No one could claim that I became a prodigy or wunderkind, but the adults in my life began to take notice of my prowess as early as middle school where I earned my first creative writing award.
I began writing professionally in 2010 and would publish my first significant work in 2013 in the form of ‘Wounded Worlds: Nihil Novum’. Since then, I have published several articles and a SF web-series, but I am now primarily focused on new novels.
To tell the truth, I’m just getting started on my creative journey and I hope you’ll join me!
Yes, I’m yet another Fantasy & SciFi author. I think we might be born in batches -BUT there’s a few things you should know about *this* one. I believe the essence of fiction in general exists to make people think; to offer perspectives that are under-explored in the mainstream.
You will find that my work won’t offer focus-group approved characters, and you’ll never find me chasing trends. I will explore familiar territory, but trust that I will take you far off the beaten path. If ever you read one of my books and say ‘that was just like [blank]’, then I’ve done a bad job. I approach fiction this way because the books that most influenced myself and my writing did exactly that.
My story begins at Sun Valley mall in Walnut Creek, CA, and a bookstore therein. You see, when I was a child, my mother deemed no visit to the mall complete without a trip to Borders or Barnes & Noble. It was there that I was exposed to both contemporary and classic literature. Over time, the voices and prose of those authors began to rub off on me. No one could claim that I became a prodigy or wunderkind, but the adults in my life began to take notice of my prowess as early as middle school where I earned my first creative writing award.
I began writing professionally in 2010 and would publish my first significant work in 2013 in the form of ‘Wounded Worlds: Nihil Novum’. Since then, I have published several articles and a SF web-series, but I am now primarily focused on new novels.
To tell the truth, I’m just getting started on my creative journey and I hope you’ll join me!
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 2, 2019
Confused between 3 stars or 5 stars for this book
Luck and Loose Ends by Ryan Hodge is a new kind of fiction book where there is no too much descriptive science gadgets or some futuristic travel. Of course it is a adventure and travel story but different kind and it is fresh. The protagonist a professional thief /bandit whatever you call travels to newly discovered new worlds and faces new hitherto unknown dangers to make his fortune and how he comes out a hero and also meets his match a girl - not the typical damsel in distress but a woman thief like himself and equally bold if not more.
The story is fresh and good paced through starting is a little slow. Once both the protagonists meet the story moves at a good pace. I liked the part that there are not too many characters heroic or villians that complicate.
But would have liked a little backstory of the characters and the new world, lack of which creates a ltitle confusion. Also there are many loose ends in the story which are left dangling adding to the confusion.That is why I gave 3 stars, otherwise for a enjoyable story, it deserves 5 stars
Received this book from the author via @BookTasters
Though I rarely read these kind of books, The cover attracted me to this book. It is a beautiful cover
Despite the minor shortcomings I enjoyed the book .
Luck and Loose Ends by Ryan Hodge is a new kind of fiction book where there is no too much descriptive science gadgets or some futuristic travel. Of course it is a adventure and travel story but different kind and it is fresh. The protagonist a professional thief /bandit whatever you call travels to newly discovered new worlds and faces new hitherto unknown dangers to make his fortune and how he comes out a hero and also meets his match a girl - not the typical damsel in distress but a woman thief like himself and equally bold if not more.
The story is fresh and good paced through starting is a little slow. Once both the protagonists meet the story moves at a good pace. I liked the part that there are not too many characters heroic or villians that complicate.
But would have liked a little backstory of the characters and the new world, lack of which creates a ltitle confusion. Also there are many loose ends in the story which are left dangling adding to the confusion.That is why I gave 3 stars, otherwise for a enjoyable story, it deserves 5 stars
Received this book from the author via @BookTasters
Though I rarely read these kind of books, The cover attracted me to this book. It is a beautiful cover
Despite the minor shortcomings I enjoyed the book .
June 28, 2019
An opportunitist named Kalisa (which reminds me of khaleesi ) whom is the narrator of the story is a thief who travels to this unknown location and gets a job on a ship which look for these types of ugly looking fishes !and story goes on untill he comes across this girl whom is also a thief ! Not only they must survive but its also hard for them to trust each other !
There was a talk about kings and thiefs at the beginning on which I'm going to elaborate a little since i loved that part ! Kalisa used kings and their way of living and compared them to people of low class ! From that itself i understood he himself was not well off ! I also loved how it was stated that no matter what kind of bad things a king does if a laborer or a person from low class does the same ! They'll be dangling to their death !and with that being said thiefs steal to earn a living but kings steal for their greed ! All odds are in favor of the kings and they can evade any accusations and punishments with their power !
Use of expressions and words and the way each situation was described honestly brought this story to life !
And as always i enjoy thief stories ! And i wanted to be one back when i was a kid hahaha!
This book is a must read and i recommend it !
There was a talk about kings and thiefs at the beginning on which I'm going to elaborate a little since i loved that part ! Kalisa used kings and their way of living and compared them to people of low class ! From that itself i understood he himself was not well off ! I also loved how it was stated that no matter what kind of bad things a king does if a laborer or a person from low class does the same ! They'll be dangling to their death !and with that being said thiefs steal to earn a living but kings steal for their greed ! All odds are in favor of the kings and they can evade any accusations and punishments with their power !
Use of expressions and words and the way each situation was described honestly brought this story to life !
And as always i enjoy thief stories ! And i wanted to be one back when i was a kid hahaha!
This book is a must read and i recommend it !
July 23, 2019
This is a fantastic fiction by Ryan Hodge who uses his superb imagination to tell the story of a thief (or an opportunist, in the protagonist's own words) who overcomes all the odds from disadvantageous positions using intelligence and steadfastness. The story is unique is many aspetcs. First of all, it is told from the first person narrative of the protagonist who has a negative shade so the readers get to see the alternative point-of-view as opposed to the most common one where the positive characters tell the story. Secondly, the deeds of the characters force the readers to rethink about the definition of good and evil, in a more pragmatic way. The author also delivers a message that power corrupts the chair and most of the times the persons who generate the wealth seldom get their due, in any society. I personally liked the approach of the author where he builds up the romance between the main characters in an adventurous and non-romantic way! The events take place in different landscape such as islands, deep seas, forests etc. which are described nicely and all the story are wrapped in a subtle sense of humour which makes the read more pleasurable. It is much different from most the other books in this genre those I came across.
January 14, 2019
I received a copy of Luck and Loose Ends from the author in exchange for an honest review.
.
Kalisa is surprisingly relatable for a thief, and I found myself rooting for him almost immediately.
.
The story is fast paced, and the moments between the perils the main characters face are well written - which made me wish for more dialogue about the world the author has created.
.
There were points in the story where circumstances coincidentally worked out in Kalisa's favour, which felt forced. Other than that I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, and would love to read more by the author.
.
Kalisa is surprisingly relatable for a thief, and I found myself rooting for him almost immediately.
.
The story is fast paced, and the moments between the perils the main characters face are well written - which made me wish for more dialogue about the world the author has created.
.
There were points in the story where circumstances coincidentally worked out in Kalisa's favour, which felt forced. Other than that I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, and would love to read more by the author.
February 20, 2019
I received this book in exchange for an honest review. I must say that I did struggle to get into this book despite the plot being fast moving. This was primarily because a I did not like the protagonist Kalisa initially but this did improve over the course of the book. I loved the first meeting between Kalisa and Peytra - I though the 2 characters together made a brilliant double act. Honestly it was when Peytra came into the story that I really started to get into the book. Overall the book is well written, often humorous and the descriptions are very detailed.
August 14, 2019
Adventurous. Fantastic.
At the beginning, the story was quite bored for me and it took some time for me to understand the story line. But, slowly, I found it interesting as I read through it. At first, I thought Kalisa is a lady who disguise as a man but as I read through the book and how he meet Peytra, that’s how I found out that he is indeed a man (My mistakes! Sorry to the author). Overall, the story was well written, the characters were well introduced, clear descriptions, humorous, and adventurous. Great job to the author. I totally recommended this book.
At the beginning, the story was quite bored for me and it took some time for me to understand the story line. But, slowly, I found it interesting as I read through it. At first, I thought Kalisa is a lady who disguise as a man but as I read through the book and how he meet Peytra, that’s how I found out that he is indeed a man (My mistakes! Sorry to the author). Overall, the story was well written, the characters were well introduced, clear descriptions, humorous, and adventurous. Great job to the author. I totally recommended this book.
January 31, 2019
Number of stars 4.5 out of 5
I really like this fast paced, page turner book. I don't want to give to much out there because irs that good of a book that you guys really I mean REALLY need to read this one.
Luck and loose is a masterpiece and you guys must and I really mean MUST pick up this book.
Love this one so much that I am reread this book.
I really like this fast paced, page turner book. I don't want to give to much out there because irs that good of a book that you guys really I mean REALLY need to read this one.
Luck and loose is a masterpiece and you guys must and I really mean MUST pick up this book.
Love this one so much that I am reread this book.
July 8, 2019
A nice read. A little slow at the beginning, but don't let that scare you away. Give it a chance and you'll love it. It becomes quite fast paced and the plot is full of twists and turns. Give it a shot, you won't regret it.
December 12, 2019
The lead is a little unlikable for the first half of the book, but the story makes it up for it with an incredible fantasy world and an intriguing plot. I certainly recommend reading this one.
July 29, 2019
SPOILER FREE
Let me start by saying I really enjoyed this. I used to play a lot of D&D, and it reads like a player's attempt to immortalise a particularly good campaign. Ryan Hodge spins a good yarn, with a rich and colourful world and some cracking action scenes, funny dialogue and more than enough twists and turns to keep the reader amused.
Great literature this isn't, and there's a lot wrong with it, but this chap is just starting out and for an early work I think he should be proud of what he's produced.
He falls into the same trap as Harry Harrison and the Stainless Steel Rat’s James Bolivar diGriz, with a larger than life central character in Kalisa, but many of his other players tend to be a little two dimensional. I didn't think his central character was quite strong enough to compensate for the lack of flesh on the bones of his other characters but like I said, it's early days and I'm hoping this is going to be part of a series as Kalisa deserves more attention.
I have absolutely no doubt that Ryan will grow as a writer, learning to use sound, smell and touch as part of his emotional palette, building on what he's already created. These are all just technical skills which will be honed over his career. What's much harder to learn is how to tell a good story, and he's got that off pat. He has another book called Wounded Worlds, science fiction so much more my thing, which I’m buying on the strength of this book. He’s definitely an author to keep an eye on.
Let me start by saying I really enjoyed this. I used to play a lot of D&D, and it reads like a player's attempt to immortalise a particularly good campaign. Ryan Hodge spins a good yarn, with a rich and colourful world and some cracking action scenes, funny dialogue and more than enough twists and turns to keep the reader amused.
Great literature this isn't, and there's a lot wrong with it, but this chap is just starting out and for an early work I think he should be proud of what he's produced.
He falls into the same trap as Harry Harrison and the Stainless Steel Rat’s James Bolivar diGriz, with a larger than life central character in Kalisa, but many of his other players tend to be a little two dimensional. I didn't think his central character was quite strong enough to compensate for the lack of flesh on the bones of his other characters but like I said, it's early days and I'm hoping this is going to be part of a series as Kalisa deserves more attention.
I have absolutely no doubt that Ryan will grow as a writer, learning to use sound, smell and touch as part of his emotional palette, building on what he's already created. These are all just technical skills which will be honed over his career. What's much harder to learn is how to tell a good story, and he's got that off pat. He has another book called Wounded Worlds, science fiction so much more my thing, which I’m buying on the strength of this book. He’s definitely an author to keep an eye on.
November 4, 2018
The novel is an original idea for the story, out of the ordinary or outside the box, if you like, kind of thinking. Besides being a rare idea it has a positive conclusion that can be drawn in the end about human civilisation and a perspective who is truly the criminal and who is the hero... How is civilisation today constructed and is it built to protect common sense and good people or to promote evil, corruption ext.
The story may be interpreted metaphorically by association to some real state and happenings of certain countries or even continents...from a distance. It shows, uncovers, the purpose of religion what they are really about...and not only they but almost all people in some kind of power. Vary good critic of deception and manipulation on a wide scale...even smaller agendas as we can see on the vary end...left for the reader to think about it or to have his own interpretation of conclusion.
Characters are few, around which the story is spinning around. First there is master thief Kalisa who has peculiar name and is like his name, less common representative of male sex because of his behaving throughout the plot. Survival from today to tomorrow is his way of life, stealing just enough to survive by intelligent and crafty ideas and to him that is also a contest and adventure. Never likes to kill or hurt, and even shows emotions without any profit involved. His main rival is Captain Hawk from whom he escaped so many times and their paths in time cross a lot but this person of law is egocentric self bragging and is more a criminal then the one who is accused to be, who he wants dead for not a good reason.
One of the most unusual characters is Peytra a strange girl also a thief with her own style who starts to like Kalisa as their paths crossed once in attempt of stealing from a rich house. Little by little two thief's fall in love and that is nice and natural small story how to similar people met. Also she and Kalisa are examples of people who doesn't easy find partners because of a specific personality and different then majority of their environment. Different people are more or less cast out by community and their life hardened to some degree. That is one of history truths not talked about enough. This story of a intertwined fates of two soul mates is special and rare because they really fell in love...in something inside not in physical appearance or for money and some personal gain.
Many descriptions of the persons and places are vary imaginative and mystery like, detailed enough to see the situation and to relate from time to time.
There are some bad points about the book. For instance some events are left out not finished like the explanation how did Devon survive when Kalisa killed him, because he had to, but he shows later saving Kalisa's life from Captain Hawk's attack. The story begins somehow without an introduction how did he embark on that town where he is looking for a job to find band members, because that town is not his birth place.
And there are some print or grammar mistakes throughout the book. But the most unusual is that I found more then ten or twenty words which don't exist in dictionary which I used for a few years, although that wasn't the case for other books that I read or for texts that I encountered and needed to look up words.
There is one more evident fault, in my opinion that I saw in other newer books also.
There are put a lot of words just to enrich the vocabulary of the book, in number of different words, but they are not needed in those places and complicate the understanding of the story. The book is written using a lot of unknown words which you can look up easily but are put in the text to which they not belong. In other words, they are to much from newer times, modern time, and the story is from older time. Well this is only my subjective critic maybe, I am not a writer. Just a thought.
All in all a good story/novel considering the time it was written. Maybe there will be second book to continue the plot untold.
The story may be interpreted metaphorically by association to some real state and happenings of certain countries or even continents...from a distance. It shows, uncovers, the purpose of religion what they are really about...and not only they but almost all people in some kind of power. Vary good critic of deception and manipulation on a wide scale...even smaller agendas as we can see on the vary end...left for the reader to think about it or to have his own interpretation of conclusion.
Characters are few, around which the story is spinning around. First there is master thief Kalisa who has peculiar name and is like his name, less common representative of male sex because of his behaving throughout the plot. Survival from today to tomorrow is his way of life, stealing just enough to survive by intelligent and crafty ideas and to him that is also a contest and adventure. Never likes to kill or hurt, and even shows emotions without any profit involved. His main rival is Captain Hawk from whom he escaped so many times and their paths in time cross a lot but this person of law is egocentric self bragging and is more a criminal then the one who is accused to be, who he wants dead for not a good reason.
One of the most unusual characters is Peytra a strange girl also a thief with her own style who starts to like Kalisa as their paths crossed once in attempt of stealing from a rich house. Little by little two thief's fall in love and that is nice and natural small story how to similar people met. Also she and Kalisa are examples of people who doesn't easy find partners because of a specific personality and different then majority of their environment. Different people are more or less cast out by community and their life hardened to some degree. That is one of history truths not talked about enough. This story of a intertwined fates of two soul mates is special and rare because they really fell in love...in something inside not in physical appearance or for money and some personal gain.
Many descriptions of the persons and places are vary imaginative and mystery like, detailed enough to see the situation and to relate from time to time.
There are some bad points about the book. For instance some events are left out not finished like the explanation how did Devon survive when Kalisa killed him, because he had to, but he shows later saving Kalisa's life from Captain Hawk's attack. The story begins somehow without an introduction how did he embark on that town where he is looking for a job to find band members, because that town is not his birth place.
And there are some print or grammar mistakes throughout the book. But the most unusual is that I found more then ten or twenty words which don't exist in dictionary which I used for a few years, although that wasn't the case for other books that I read or for texts that I encountered and needed to look up words.
There is one more evident fault, in my opinion that I saw in other newer books also.
There are put a lot of words just to enrich the vocabulary of the book, in number of different words, but they are not needed in those places and complicate the understanding of the story. The book is written using a lot of unknown words which you can look up easily but are put in the text to which they not belong. In other words, they are to much from newer times, modern time, and the story is from older time. Well this is only my subjective critic maybe, I am not a writer. Just a thought.
All in all a good story/novel considering the time it was written. Maybe there will be second book to continue the plot untold.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews