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A Time of Blood (Of Blood and Bone, #2)
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Archive [Retired Buddy Reads] > A Time of Blood (Of Blood and Bone #2)[August 20, 2023]

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message 1: by Yanique, Thread Master (last edited Jan 04, 2023 04:04PM) (new)

Yanique Gillana | 2889 comments Mod
This is a Buddy Read for A Time of Blood by John Gwynne starting August 20, 2023.
A Time of Blood (Of Blood and Bone, #2) by John Gwynne


Vickie (bookfan4ever) I couldn't wait and had to get started right away. It's full speed ahead, and I'm loving it!


Chris  Haught (haughtc) | 2348 comments I'll be joining, but might be a little late as I'm also doing the buddy read for A Little Hatred on audio, which started a few days sooner than this one..


Nirkatze | 21398 comments Got a few books in line before this, but should be here this coming week.


Nirkatze | 21398 comments Well, apparently the books I had lined up before weren't very long, lol. Started today, through Chapter 16--(view spoiler)


Nirkatze | 21398 comments Chapter 26 HAH! (view spoiler)


Vickie (bookfan4ever) Lol, I had the same reaction!


Nirkatze | 21398 comments Finished yesterday! Though it was the wee hours of the morning and I was rather overworked, so the big climax has all more or less muddled together in my head. Enjoyed it though, and looking forward to the wrap-up!


Vickie (bookfan4ever) Wow, you flew through that, bravo! I'm at chapter 35, so I have a little way to go yet. Glad you enjoyed it!


Vickie (bookfan4ever) Finished this morning and loved it! (view spoiler)

Can't wait to see how it all wraps up, so diving into the last book a little early.😉


Nirkatze | 21398 comments Grats on the finish! (view spoiler)


Chris  Haught (haughtc) | 2348 comments Ummm. Started today


Nirkatze | 21398 comments You're in for some fun, Chris!


Chris  Haught (haughtc) | 2348 comments Thanks...I only listened for a little bit. I'm having to readjust and shift my brain from First Law back to this world....


Nirkatze | 21398 comments LOL that's... less of a shift than other worlds, which in some ways makes it worse.


Chris  Haught (haughtc) | 2348 comments Yes, it's worse. If it was completely different, it wouldn't be jarring. I should have listened to a memoir or a crime novel first lol....But I'm already behind on this and the next books in both series are coming up this month...


Nirkatze | 21398 comments I feel you... there's definitely no lack of interesting BRs to catch up on right now...


message 18: by Felina (new)

Felina | 2416 comments I dropped the ball on this one. It didn't get onto my list so I missed it. I'm going to start it now so I'm ready for the third one on the 20th.


Chris  Haught (haughtc) | 2348 comments I'm moving along, at a crawl for the most part. Enjoying it, though I'm having a hard time with the Fritha POV chapters....


Nirkatze | 21398 comments Felina wrote: "I dropped the ball on this one. It didn't get onto my list so I missed it. I'm going to start it now so I'm ready for the third one on the 20th."

You're not too late!


message 21: by Monika (new)

Monika | 2349 comments Have this one :) but first need to find book 1 and read it :)


Chris  Haught (haughtc) | 2348 comments These villains suck such balls... Gulla - Gulin. Which is fucking which?

Fritha sucks and Gulla is worse. And I don't mean worse evil but worse as in characterization.

To me the real villains of this piece are the Ben-Alim. Corruption at it's best, in the name of "right"


message 23: by Felina (new)

Felina | 2416 comments Interesting, Chris. This book has worried me a little because I only care about Rem (I hope that’s his name) and don’t have any interest in the other characters so I’m confusing whom is whom.

I’ve got a little bit into this audiobook and it’s just not working for me and it’s making me not want to read anything. I’m not sure if it’s the story itself or that I’m waiting to get to other books I’m more interested in. I think I’m going to set this one down and come back to it later to see if it’s just a timing issue. Happy reading, friends!


Chris  Haught (haughtc) | 2348 comments I get it, Felina...While I've liked these books, I can see the struggle. I've had times where I haven't felt like tapping the play button or ended up listening to music instead....

That said, I do like the story and I'm engaged enough to push through. Hopefully today I'll get through this one, then will be able to jump back into First Law...

I think my issue is that I enjoyed the first trilogy so much more and It's a bit of a let down in that respect. Felina, those first books might be more to your liking as they're rooted in more traditional tropes of quest and heroes, etc rather than the political religious drama we see here. And the villains are less grimdark Disney animated and more drawn out lol....*caveat here is that Jeremy Irons as Scar is a brilliant animated Disney villain ;)

The other thing is that I wedged this one between Abercrombie books and those are so much more hitting my reading moods on pretty much any given day..


message 25: by Felina (new)

Felina | 2416 comments See and I didn’t have time to do both this and the Abercrombie BR so I decided to do this one instead and I have regrets because I like Abercrombie a lot.

I do think I want to go do the first trilogy first. I feel a little lost and I’m sure it’s more to do with me not being in the right head space but it may be helpful to have a surer footing in the world.


Chris  Haught (haughtc) | 2348 comments That's what I'd recommend. Malice, the first book, eases new readers in and the concepts & settings are more standard fantasy, so it's easier (to me) to slip in and feel comfortable...

And while it's said that you can read this trilogy first, there are a ton of references back to the "legends" of the events that happened in the first series. There is a much stronger connection with the reader that is familiar with those legends, having read along as they occurred.

Here, names are dropped every third word but they're just names to a new reader. And there are sooooooooooooo many names, and they're sooooooooo similar sometimes. I can't keep the new characters straight for dick, but oh yes I know who they're talking about when they say "Veradis", or "Corbin" or "Bright Star"....


message 27: by Felina (new)

Felina | 2416 comments I kinda wish all fantasy novels used regular names. Barbara, Jonathan and Peter start off on their journey to defeat Marcus.

I’m going to put the first trilogy in my rotation.


Vickie (bookfan4ever) Yes, Chris, the villains are awful! And I agree with you about the Ben-Elim too.


Chris  Haught (haughtc) | 2348 comments Felina wrote: "I kinda wish all fantasy novels used regular names. Barbara, Jonathan and Peter start off on their journey to defeat Marcus.

I’m going to put the first trilogy in my rotation."


There's a new BR coming for it: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...


message 30: by Felina (new)

Felina | 2416 comments I saw that and I may join. But I also want to devote my October to spooky reads so I need to push some stuff into September that’s scheduled for October. I don’t think I can make it work.


message 31: by Choko (new) - added it

Choko (chokog) | 12597 comments Up to Ch. 16... (view spoiler)


message 32: by Choko (new) - added it

Choko (chokog) | 12597 comments Up to Ch. 35... (view spoiler)


message 33: by Choko (new) - added it

Choko (chokog) | 12597 comments Finished! That was very good, but I agree with everyone, it does fall short in comparison with the first trilogy. (view spoiler)

I enjoyed it quite a bit and am also looking forward to the final chapter in the adventure:)))


Vickie (bookfan4ever) Glad you enjoyed it, too, Choko! I love Drem and Riv. Their character arcs have been the most fun reading. And buckle up, I'm a little over halfway through the last book, and it doesn't let up!


Chris  Haught (haughtc) | 2348 comments I finished tonight also.... Pretty much agree with y'all across the board..


Nirkatze | 21398 comments Grats on the finish, Choko, Chris!

Loved reading your thoughts Choko--totally same wavelength on folks who say they "know" what God wants... *sigh*


message 37: by Chris (last edited Sep 12, 2023 07:00AM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Chris  Haught (haughtc) | 2348 comments The whole thing about Elyion's Law....(Spoiler for 1st series and this one) (view spoiler)

Fairly consistent behavior, to be honest. And very believable in the story context.


Chris  Haught (haughtc) | 2348 comments I'm going to do a switcheroo on my reading schedule......

As mentioned, I've been flip-flopping these books with the Age of Madness trilogy by Abercrombie....Since they both got scheduled nearly on top of each other....

Since tomorrow is the first day I can start early and still get the Buddy Bonus in the Team Challenge, I am going to continue with Book 3 here at that point.....

One, I'm on a good roll and well invested after struggling at the beginning of both books. Trying to avoid that with the third....

Two, I can then listen to the 2 & 3 of the Abercrombies after this and still be caught up, without having to shift my entire mental state from one world back to the other and back again....


Nirkatze | 21398 comments Chris wrote: "The whole thing about Elyion's Law....(Spoiler for 1st series and this one) [spoilers removed]

Fairly consistent behavior, to be honest. And very believable in the story context."


LOL I wasn't surprised (view spoiler)

Seems like you have a solid plan for reading, Chris.


message 40: by Chris (last edited Sep 13, 2023 12:21PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Chris  Haught (haughtc) | 2348 comments Yes yes! lol...Somehow that makes them so much more realistic...

Oh, off the subject. The creature/revenant thing Ulf....The way the narrator said his name as "Alf" made me think of this guy:

(view spoiler)

Made it difficult to feel any sort of apprehension when he showed up...


Vickie (bookfan4ever) Lol, Chris!


message 42: by Choko (new) - added it

Choko (chokog) | 12597 comments Hahaha!!!!


Nirkatze | 21398 comments LOL Oh that's just treasure. Thank you for the laugh, Chris!!


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A Time of Blood (other topics)

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John Gwynne (other topics)