Nightmares and Dreamscapes discussion

This thread is for the buddy read of the third book, Slayer in the Darkblade Series. Please use spoilers when necessary and have fun! :)

So much slaying to look forward to. :D

So Andy that means the title of the book lives up to the story? We are going to see lots of slaying going on? lol

ALL THE SLAYING!

I think the body count in this one is the highest in the series so far.

Andy wrote: "ALL THE SLAYING!

I think the body count in this one is the highest in the series so far."

Cool! That means the third book will be rocking with action! Awesome! I am ready to go on a slaying fest with the Hunter! So I guess the key words here are: "Gear Up"!! :)

Absolutely! And there's a brand new corner of Einan to explore, a culture and magic to discover.

Andy wrote: "Absolutely! And there's a brand new corner of Einan to explore, a culture and magic to discover."

Very cool! Looking forward to reading it! :)

SLAYER! Keeper's taint! That's my new favorite expletive. It works in any situation.

Hah, it really does!

I am behind on book reading - I have pushed this back some - it will be sometime this month - not sure when. :)

Exciting!

I'm joining this month too just not sure what day yet, I'm juggling so many books, still trying to finish up some May group reads lol.

I already got my copy of the book tho :)

As soon as I finish The Shadow of the Gods I will start this one. I'm a bit behind. Sorry. I'm really looking forward to reading book 3.

Keeper's taint is right, Sally!

Sorry I didn't get to this book - going to try and slip it in for November. This month has been crazy with book reading so I am going to try and get to this within the next two weeks. I hope.

November happens to my birthday month, so that shakes out WONDERFULLY! :D

Ahh so cool, what day is your bday Andy? My son turns 2 on November 13th.

Exactly two weeks later than him: November 27th

Aww cool! I added it to my calendar :P

I have a plan - lol - I am going to try and step into this book this coming weekend. :)

A solid plan!

I'm 167 pages into the 747 page paperback. This book is literally heavy. Good quality paper went into this as are the other physical copies.

I'm piggybacking this with Levaithan Wakes. I am really enjoying both books so the only trouble I'm having is choosing which one to read at any given time.

So far, this book is amazing. I'm not getting too spoilery but just know that Andy seems to have planned everything out in his world so don't worry about plot holes. Even names have meanings.

Be wary of the bad sleep horses!

Funny you mention bad sleep horses--in Book 6, the Hunter is hallucinating with a weird-looking horse monster that comes to him at sunrise every morning. :D

Of course he does. lol.

I got to page 199.

(view spoiler)[I like that the Hunter has developed his parenting feelings over his sense of duty to protect Hailen. I think it will allow for some good and emotional storytelling. The whole political war with the Sage, Warmaster and now Eldor is getting interesting.

Dude, I was convinced the Sage or Warmaster somehow got Hailen to sneak into the Hunter's room to get the Hunter to kill him. I'm glad I was wrong but man, this series has me overthinking everything! (hide spoiler)]

Hah, that is probably the best compliment! "Overthinking everything" is exactly how I write, so I try to infuse a bit of that into every chapter and scene. You never know what's going to matter until it hits you in the face. EVERYTHING matters in some way. :D

Well my plan didn't work as I am going to need to push the fantasy book back. Some stuff came up at home so it will have to be later this month.

4% and it's already intense!

Let the bodies hit the floor! :D

Andy, Happy Birthday!! Hope you're having a killer day already!

Here's some flowers from us :P

Happy Birthday my dude!

Happy Birthday Andy! :)

THank you all! Been a LOVELY day thus far. Coffee in bed with the missus and a good TV show, morning to read, walk in the sunshine and snow, a bit of dinner with my kids, and off to sleep to TRY MY BEST to finish Darkblade #6 next week. All in all, a WIN.

Sounds like you had a great day indeed. I will eagerly await book 6.

It's passing 370,000 words this week. I'm HOPING to finish it before it exceeds 400,000.

Wow! If you write it, I'll read it. In paperback of course. Collecting books and reading books are two seperate hobbies.

Kevin wrote: "Wow! If you write it, I'll read it. In paperback of course. Collecting books and reading books are two seperate hobbies."

They really are!

Andy wrote: "THank you all! Been a LOVELY day thus far. Coffee in bed with the missus and a good TV show, morning to read, walk in the sunshine and snow, a bit of dinner with my kids, and off to sleep to TRY MY..."

Sounds like the perfect birthday, so glad it was a nice day for you and the family :)

Kevin wrote: "Wow! If you write it, I'll read it. In paperback of course. Collecting books and reading books are two seperate hobbies."

I've been trying to step up my own collection slowly but surely. FINALLY I have an office now

Andy wrote: "Kevin wrote: "Wow! If you write it, I'll read it. In paperback of course. Collecting books and reading books are two seperate hobbies."

I've been trying to step up my own collection slowly but sur..."

Congrats on the office! You'll appreciate your own space.

Made it to page 439. Into part 2 of Slayer. Wow...

(view spoiler)[Holy crap! The Warmaster is not messing around! He is definitely a sadistic S.O.B.! The torure sessions were gut-wrenching! I worry for Andy because he thought of all that! Kidding of course!

I still don't trust anyone so I'm not sold that Keleos is a good guy even though he got the Hunter out of there. I'm glad Hailen is still relatively safe. Finally some back story on that kid. I agree with the Hunter in that Hailen finding out who he is may trigger him to leave the Hunter. Which will not only make the Hunter sad but me too. I hope he gets soulhunger back and settles the score soon!
(hide spoiler)]

I did A LOT of research for all those torture scenes. You'd be amazed by some of the horrible shit humankind has created to inflict pain on their fellow man over the milennia

I'm conviced that matter what you can think of, no matter how twisted, someone has done it. Humans can be a "special" species for sure.

The way you wrote the whole thing was great in the sense of feeling the despair. I really do love your books. A lot of feeling goes into them.

Thank you! I really do try to impart as much emotion as I can to them. Which is why they tend to go on and on. Characters take a lot of words to FEEL things. :D

Andy wrote: "Thank you! I really do try to impart as much emotion as I can to them. Which is why they tend to go on and on. Characters take a lot of words to FEEL things. :D"

You're very welcome! Your books never come off as "wordy". They all have good reason to be there to convey an idea or emotion.

At page 492

(view spoiler)[I knew the Hunter was going to be asked to leave Hailen with his kin. You can feel the entire scene! What a tough decision. Poor guy can't catch a break! Antelope stew sounds good!
Although I re-read it in the voice of Shrek talking about weedrat schtew! Love it. (hide spoiler)]

557.

(view spoiler)[The torture by the Warmaster seems to have taken a toll on the Hunter as much as he fought against it. I don't like an unsure Hunter
Seems the opia might not be what he was hoping for. What a tough decision! (hide spoiler)]

When one is in the proximity of an entity calling themselves "the Masters of Agony", one must put such claims of mastery to the test. :D

Andy wrote: "When one is in the proximity of an entity calling themselves "the Masters of Agony", one must put such claims of mastery to the test. :D"

I believe you'd have too!

I made it to page 702!

(view spoiler)[The battle with the Warmaster was a great bit of writing.
I like that the Hunter was at a disadvantage the whole time without Soulhunger and that he had to fight unconventionally to overcome the odds.

THE BETRAYAL!!!!!! I was at the edge my seat reading the scene where the Hunter was going to help Keleos and Syndine in battle. I'm not usually one to get emotional reading books but this one got me a little. Like I said before, Andy, your writing has so much emotion to it. I love it.
(hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[ It was really fun to set the Hunter against an enemy who is a much bigger badass than he is. Tane was a decent foe, but the Hunter had his measure. The Warmaster only died because there were Elivasti to give the Hunter a hand. Had it been one on one, the Hunter would be dead. No doubt about it.

And that scene with Keleos and Syndine was truly an inspiration of the moment. I knew I wanted them to die, but I wasn't sure how. Then I get to the point where they're fighting to protect the kids, and I knew there was only one way for them to go out. LITERALLY immortalized in stone. And removing the Bright Spear from the equation is important for future Elivasti stories. (hide spoiler)]

Andy wrote: " It was really fun to set the Hunter against an enemy who is a much bigger badass than he is. Tane was a decent foe, but the Hunter had his measure. The Warmaster only died because there were Eliva..."

(view spoiler)[I appreciate the turning to crystal idea.
And the last hoo-rah with the spear. It added some finality to the situation. The end is near. Take out as many as you can on the way out.

Every part of this plot seems so well thought out and planned. Amazing work (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[ That's the magic of a finished book. Everything SEEMS so cohesive and well-constructed, not utterly pulled out of one's a** at the last moment or in the heat of inspiration because we've had time to go back and clean it up. Hahah! (hide spoiler)]

Finished! What a book!

(view spoiler)[Dude, the Sage SUCKS!!!! I'd like to say I saw it coming but I didn't think anyone was up to any good for most of this. Including Keleos. I'm very intrigued to find out more about Hailen and why the Sage about fears him now that he knows their secret. Apparently the only thing the Sage didn't know. He is a great villain. Nice work on that Andy.

At the end I imagined the narrator from the Pokemon cartoon saying, "What will happen to little Hailen and our Hunter? Find out next time on "Darkblade" as they continue their journey. haha.

I need an emotional break before I start book 4. (hide spoiler)]

5 star review is up.