Vows of Revenge by J. F. Ridgley

Vows of Revenge by J. F. Ridgley(Cover picture courtesy of J. F. Ridgley.)

In 295B, Aelia and Lucianus struggle to survive in a world filled with pirates, godfathers and forbidden love. Where patricians rule and plebeians grovel.  But, will Lucianus grovel? Don’t count on it.

[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook from J. F. Ridgley in exchange for an honest review.]

To be perfectly honest, I’m not a big fan of romance in general.  Especially when a book focuses on the romance.  However, I am a big fan of historical fiction that’s accurate and well-researched, which is why I agreed to read Vows of Revenge.  After all, I’m generally open-minded when it comes to what I read.  Once again, I’m glad my open mind led me to another great read.

As I said, I’m not a big fan of romance; my regular readers know this all too well.  However, I really liked the romance between Aelia and Lucianus in this book.  Yes, it’s a stereotypical forbidden love on the surface (pleb loves patrician), but there’s so much more to it than that.  There’s Aelia’s abuse-ridden past, societal expectations and the novel’s villains trying to get in the way of their relationship.  It’s definitely a struggle and it doesn’t feel contrived at all.

I wouldn’t call Vows of Revenge a fast-paced book because it’s more character-focused, but it’s far from boring.  Aelia’s character arc is fantastic and seeing things from Lucianus’ point of view keeps things moving constantly.  There’s something in here for both romance-lovers and history buffs because Ridgley has done an incredible amount of research.  For once, I can say with complete confidence that this book is historically accurate.  Yes, the characters are made up.  But the details of Roman life, from the background war in Samnia and the severe patrician-pleb divide are accurate.  There’s even an historical note at the end of the book for the curious.

Vows of Revenge is written extremely well and is generally free of the typos that you typically find in self-published books.  There are a few minor ones such as a missing letter or a quotation mark that faces the wrong way, but nothing blatantly obvious.  Certainly not that many to have an effect on the quality of the writing or story and not enough to annoy this picky grammarian.

Even if you don’t generally read romance or historical fiction, I’d highly recommend Vows of Revenge.  It’s definitely a worthwhile read.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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The Mad Reviewer is Open for Submissions

I’m going to discuss a couple of things in this article, but I’ll start with the most important bit first:

1.  I am now initiating an open submission call!

So if you’re an author, whether traditionally, independently or self-published and want your book reviewed, you are free to request a review.  THIS IS ON THE CONDITION YOUR BOOK FITS MY REVIEW POLICY!!!  As always, I reserve the right to accept or request your book on a case-by-case basis.  I’m expecting quite a few submissions because of my big submissions announcement, so don’t be surprised if I’m closed for business pretty soon.

2.  If you had submitted your book to me last time and haven’t heard back from me, you are free to resubmit.

I may have accidentally deleted your email and for that I apologize.  Admitting this here on my blog is pretty embarrassing, but I have a feeling I actually did do this to someone.  It’s not because I hate you or your book; it’s because I’m a disorganized idiot.  You are now my top priority and once you resubmit your book, can expect a review in 1-2 days.

3.  I will now be prioritizing requests.

No, this is not because I want to pick favourites.  I will now be officially prioritizing requests to make things a little more fair.  Here is the order in which I will be reading books:

  1. Any resubmitted requests because I accidentally deleted an author’s email.
  2. Anyone who sends me print copies.
  3. Authors who sent me the first book in a series, got a good review and want to send me their second book.
  4. Everyone else on a first come, first serve basis.

#1 seems pretty obvious to me, but #2 may be a bit controversial.  As a matter of personal preference, I love print copies because reading on the computer too long hurts my eyes.  I don’t have an e-reader so I can take print copies with me everywhere and usually finish them immediately.  From an author’s perspective they are taking the risk by spending their own money to send a print copy of their book all the way up to Canada for a possibly bad review.  So if they take that risk, the least I can do is give them a much quicker, but still honest, book review.

#3 actually serves a more practical purpose: I read a lot of books.  As a result, if I wait a couple months to read through my entire list before starting the second book in a series, I often forget who the characters are and what they did and get confused.  However, #3 is conditional.  I absolutely have my limits on how many books in a series an author can send me and this is only applicable for first books I give a rating of 4+ stars.

4.  I will be better at updating my In Progress page.

Before I closed submissions and afterwards, I sucked at updating my In Progress page, I know.  I would often change the dates in which I expected to start books.  But no more!  Authors, you can be reasonably sure that whatever timeline I give you on that page now is more concrete than before.  It won’t be perfect, but I promise it will be better.

Short Story: The Curse of Troy by Luciana Cavallaro

The Curse of Troy by Luciana Cavallaro(Cover picture courtesy of Kobo Books.)

Enter a world where legend and reality blur. Queen Helen of Sparta, the most beautiful and desirable woman in the world is both renowned and condemned for prompting a war. Two great powers—the Achaeans and Trojans—fighting a bloody battle where thousands of men died. The grounds of Ilium steeped in their blood. Gone is the age where heroes tread the earth with their magnificence and god given gifts.

But did this all happen as we have been led to believe?

(Blurb excerpt courtesy of Luciana Cavallaro’s website.)

[Full disclosure: Luciana Cavallaro provided me with a free ebook copy of her short story in exchange for an honest review.]

This is my first ever short story review, so please bear with me.

However, this is definitely not the first short story I’ve ever read.  If I’m going to be honest, it’s probably one of the best I’ve read.  I enjoyed The Curse of Troy so much that I wish it had been longer, say novel-lenth.  Luciana Cavallaro’s approach to the famous legend of Troy was most definitely unique and it’s one that I’d like to see more of.

Told from the point of view of a young historian talking to the much older Helen after the events of the Trojan War, The Curse of Troy offers a much more sympathetic version of events.  I don’t want to give too much away, but have you ever considered that Helen was completely innocent of pretty much everything she was accused of?  This sounds quite incredulous, but I assure you that Luciana Cavallaro has packed enough information in this 30 page short story to make you see just such a possibility.

Even in such a limited format, the character of Helen came across very well.  Having Helen tell her version of events to our first-person narrator was an interesting approach and we were able to see her reflect upon her youth with an older, more mature perspective.  Her interaction with the unnamed young historian (our narrator) also revealed quite a bit of her character.  Make no mistake: this story is about Helen, not our mysterious narrator.  That doesn’t mean our narrator is necessarily one dimensional—he’s not—but it provides us with a fresh look at the (in)famous woman of legend.

I give this story 5/5 stars.

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*Only available as an ebook.

Spotlight: The Song of Troy by Colleen McCullough

Spotlight is my Saturday feature in which I highlight a book I am either really looking forward to or really enjoyed.  This time I’m highlighting a book I really enjoyed: The Song of Troy by Colleen McCullough.

The Song of Troy by Colleen McCulloughIn The Song of Troy, the bestselling author of The Thorn Birds recounts the tale of Helen and Paris, the immortal lovers who doomed two great nations to a terrible war.  It is told through the eyes of its main characters: the sensuous and self-indulgent Helen; the subtle and brilliant Odysseus; the sad old man Priam, King of Troy; the tormented warrior prince, Achilles; and Agamemnon, King of Kings, who consents to the unspeakable in order to launch his thousand ships.  This is an unputdownable tale of love, ambition, delusion, honour and consuming passion.

It’s hard to pick a favourite character out of the entire book because Colleen McCullough has made each unique and interesting.  Not all portrayals are necessarily the most flattering (see: Helen herself), but the way the story is told they feel more realistic.  There are no divine interventions, only people fighting a vicious, bloody war for reasons of their own.

Although newcomers to the legend of Troy would be able to understand things perfectly, The Song of Troy is more of a refreshing change for people who have read at least one different interpretation or even the original.  Having read at least one other interpretation allows you to truly appreciate the monumental effort Colleen McCullough put into her novel to make legendary figures more human.  Being human, they are wonderfully, fatally flawed as well.

Even if you don’t like historical fiction in general, I would definitely recommend The Song of Troy.

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Looking for Alaska by John Green(Cover picture courtesy of Compulsive Overreader.)

BEFORE.  Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home.  His whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the “Great Perhaps” (François Rabelais, poet) even more.  He heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe.  Because down the hall is Alaska Young.  The gorgeous, clever, funny, sex, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself.  She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.

AFTER.  Nothing is ever the same.

To be honest, I was expecting some sappy, cliché-filled teen romance with plenty of drinking, smoking and sex.  Because writers think all teen relationships involve those three things.  Or maybe I’m just naive and the writers are correct.

Either way, Looking for Alaska was most definitely not what I predicted.  In the middle of the book it went in an entirely different direction that threw me off completely.  Looking back on things, I think John Green was hinting at what would happen earlier, but at the time the huge plot twist was a surprise to say the least.  After that, I could ignore the smoking and drinking and teenage drama and focus on the message John Green was trying to get across all along.

But the thing is that the message isn’t blatantly obvious.  You have to think about things and come up with your own conclusion.  That’s something you don’t see very often in YA fiction and it’s nice to have a bit of an ambiguous ending.  Everything is not hunky-dory and happy-go-lucky; Looking for Alaska is sort of a melancholy book with a melancholy ending.  Sure, it’s not the sad YA ending I’ve been yearning for, but it’s nice not to have a completely happy ending.

I think that the characters in this book, whether they’re Alaska, Pudge or the Colonel, will speak to teens.  They’re flawed, imperfect and do incredibly stupid things that everyone, not just teens, do.  John Green also doesn’t try to write down to his readers; he actually believes in their intelligence.  That’s why his teenagers are real people, not just the stereotypes you’ll see in every movie/TV show about high school every made.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

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