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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
I'd say "men can't write women"-- which is generally true, e.g. this book--but this author also can't write men very well, so I suppose he just struggles with characters. And chronic horniness
I loved the premise and the initial chapters. I’m realizing I’m a sucker for throwing me into a world where me and the protagonist knows nothing at all. The book Bastion by Phil Tucker did something similar and I loved that book. It made his journey of literal self discovery very captivating.
I’m also usually not a fan of generic magic systems where it describes the users as wizards or generic ideas like Demons and necromancy. I like more specific and unique magic system and ideas and naming conventions. But in this case it worked. If only for the sheer quantity of the different types. I’ve never read a story where demonology, sorcerers, battle mages, elementalist, wizards, and necromancy all exist at the same time but are very different from one another. It brought some life into the idea
The story itself was fun and interesting for the first 2/3rds of the book. I saw a couple of the twists coming in the end(I called the thing with Shalayne the instant that girl in the tavern said Tian had a sister) but I didn’t see the twist with Henka coming. So that was fun. I don’t know if I loved the road to get there though
My issues came in when Henka became a major character and with the protagonist himself.
Henka herself was a fine character. I did think she was too one note and her obsession with the protagonist bothered me until i got to the end. It just felt like she was forced into the story for some reason. Like at first she wasn’t supposed to be that important but the author changed his mind at some point. The ending twist with her even felt a little hand fisted. And the protagonist extreme love/desire for her felt weird, awkward and out of nowhere. Like At first I thought he was lying to get her to do what he wants but at some point i think he really fell in love with her for no reason at all.
The protagonist himself really really started getting on my nerves the closer to the end we got. At first I thought he was going to be a tutored soul always trying to do better but always finding himself in hard situations. Towards the end he just seemed like he was slowly degrading into a villain. Both are fine and I like aspects of both. The problem is that the protagonist himself didn’t know what he was. He would brutally murder an entire family then think to himself how bad he felt then proceed to brutally murder someone else then feels bad about it and so on and so forth. It was tedious and annoying. He never actually did anything to stop from being evil and doing evil stuff but would wallow in pity for himself after every evil deed. Either be evil or not. Or at least do something to fight against those instincts in a real way, don’t just talk about it for pages and pages. I would rather he be a full on psychopath then this pointless back and forth.
I’m also usually not a fan of generic magic systems where it describes the users as wizards or generic ideas like Demons and necromancy. I like more specific and unique magic system and ideas and naming conventions. But in this case it worked. If only for the sheer quantity of the different types. I’ve never read a story where demonology, sorcerers, battle mages, elementalist, wizards, and necromancy all exist at the same time but are very different from one another. It brought some life into the idea
The story itself was fun and interesting for the first 2/3rds of the book. I saw a couple of the twists coming in the end(I called the thing with Shalayne the instant that girl in the tavern said Tian had a sister) but I didn’t see the twist with Henka coming. So that was fun. I don’t know if I loved the road to get there though
My issues came in when Henka became a major character and with the protagonist himself.
Henka herself was a fine character. I did think she was too one note and her obsession with the protagonist bothered me until i got to the end. It just felt like she was forced into the story for some reason. Like at first she wasn’t supposed to be that important but the author changed his mind at some point. The ending twist with her even felt a little hand fisted. And the protagonist extreme love/desire for her felt weird, awkward and out of nowhere. Like At first I thought he was lying to get her to do what he wants but at some point i think he really fell in love with her for no reason at all.
The protagonist himself really really started getting on my nerves the closer to the end we got. At first I thought he was going to be a tutored soul always trying to do better but always finding himself in hard situations. Towards the end he just seemed like he was slowly degrading into a villain. Both are fine and I like aspects of both. The problem is that the protagonist himself didn’t know what he was. He would brutally murder an entire family then think to himself how bad he felt then proceed to brutally murder someone else then feels bad about it and so on and so forth. It was tedious and annoying. He never actually did anything to stop from being evil and doing evil stuff but would wallow in pity for himself after every evil deed. Either be evil or not. Or at least do something to fight against those instincts in a real way, don’t just talk about it for pages and pages. I would rather he be a full on psychopath then this pointless back and forth.
adventurous
dark
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I've read this as part of SPFBO in which it was chosen as my semi-finalist. You can check out the reviews of the rest of the team here
Actual rating: 4.5*
I’ve been wanting to read one of Fletcher‘s books for a while now as many of my friends praised his books, but I never quite got around to it. Lady Luck stood by my side and Black Stone Heart got sorted into our group. I took it as a sign and claimed it for myself. In the meantime the audiobook was also released and I got myself a copy of that too to speed things up. Little did I know what was waiting for me.
Black Stone Heart is the story of Khraen, a young (or old, depending on your POV) man in search of his past and the pieces of his obsidian heart. The first person POV makes Black Stone Heart a very intimate read as we tag along Khraen discovering the world and the answers to his questions through him. I generally favor books written in first person, so this aspect was a huge plus for me. There is something raw and powerful in Fletcher‘s writing that makes Khraen’s world to come alive. His thirst for collecting his memories, his hate for wizards bordering on irrational and the many form of magic than inhabit the pages.
I admit I had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Khraen, which – to me – shows his complexity as a character. On one hand, I sympathized with him and rooted for him to find his memories or to find his happiness with Shalayn. But as the plot went ahead, he started to make decisions I did not quite understand. His flaws started to come out more and more as he gained his memories and his personality changed with it. It was really intriguing to see that change, I might add. The way he battled with himself, trying to balance his new and old personality. But also, he resents the people of the North for treating him badly due to his dark skin color and old superstitions, but at the same time, he holds a similar prejudice against wizards. Sure, he has a good reason to hate them, but he never stops considering that maybe, just maybe, not every wizard is a traitorous bastard.
Another interesting aspect of Black Stone Heart is Khraen’s struggling with the concept of evil. Is killing people considered evil? And if you do it for your own survival? Or for the good of your people? Does the purpose make the deed excusable? And then, what is evil anyway? What makes Khraen a really memorable character is that the reader can’t really decide on which side he falls on the evil spectrum. I don’t think he knows it either. Characters like him make the Grimdark subgenre so damn intriguing for me. Because I just can’t make up my mind about him and it’s been a while since I’ve read it. Twice in quick succession because damn, Black Stone Heart just makes its way under your skin like a bad itch you can’t get rid of.
My only issue and the reason I didn’t give this book a higher rating is Khraen’s relationships with Henka and Shalayn. I won’t go into details so I won’t spoil anything, but suffice to say, I found his feelings a bit unbelieavable and a bit forced. He told us over and over and over what he felt but it felt more like pep talking himself and not convincing either of us. Though, in retrospect, some things do make sense by the end of the book.
That being said, Fletcher has this way of fucking with your mind, whether you like it or not. There aren’t many big surprising twists – only one that really caught me by surprise and which I should have expected. It is more character driven rather than plot and even then, the Fletcher does not make life easy for them.
Black Stone Heart will make you uncomfortable, will make you question the actions of the characters but will never let you go. Do a favor to yourself and listen to the audiobook narrated by Fletcher himself. If you won’t fall in love with his voice and wish he was reading everything to you from now on, then there is something wrong with you.
Actual rating: 4.5*
I’ve been wanting to read one of Fletcher‘s books for a while now as many of my friends praised his books, but I never quite got around to it. Lady Luck stood by my side and Black Stone Heart got sorted into our group. I took it as a sign and claimed it for myself. In the meantime the audiobook was also released and I got myself a copy of that too to speed things up. Little did I know what was waiting for me.
Black Stone Heart is the story of Khraen, a young (or old, depending on your POV) man in search of his past and the pieces of his obsidian heart. The first person POV makes Black Stone Heart a very intimate read as we tag along Khraen discovering the world and the answers to his questions through him. I generally favor books written in first person, so this aspect was a huge plus for me. There is something raw and powerful in Fletcher‘s writing that makes Khraen’s world to come alive. His thirst for collecting his memories, his hate for wizards bordering on irrational and the many form of magic than inhabit the pages.
I admit I had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Khraen, which – to me – shows his complexity as a character. On one hand, I sympathized with him and rooted for him to find his memories or to find his happiness with Shalayn. But as the plot went ahead, he started to make decisions I did not quite understand. His flaws started to come out more and more as he gained his memories and his personality changed with it. It was really intriguing to see that change, I might add. The way he battled with himself, trying to balance his new and old personality. But also, he resents the people of the North for treating him badly due to his dark skin color and old superstitions, but at the same time, he holds a similar prejudice against wizards. Sure, he has a good reason to hate them, but he never stops considering that maybe, just maybe, not every wizard is a traitorous bastard.
Another interesting aspect of Black Stone Heart is Khraen’s struggling with the concept of evil. Is killing people considered evil? And if you do it for your own survival? Or for the good of your people? Does the purpose make the deed excusable? And then, what is evil anyway? What makes Khraen a really memorable character is that the reader can’t really decide on which side he falls on the evil spectrum. I don’t think he knows it either. Characters like him make the Grimdark subgenre so damn intriguing for me. Because I just can’t make up my mind about him and it’s been a while since I’ve read it. Twice in quick succession because damn, Black Stone Heart just makes its way under your skin like a bad itch you can’t get rid of.
My only issue and the reason I didn’t give this book a higher rating is Khraen’s relationships with Henka and Shalayn. I won’t go into details so I won’t spoil anything, but suffice to say, I found his feelings a bit unbelieavable and a bit forced. He told us over and over and over what he felt but it felt more like pep talking himself and not convincing either of us. Though, in retrospect, some things do make sense by the end of the book.
That being said, Fletcher has this way of fucking with your mind, whether you like it or not. There aren’t many big surprising twists – only one that really caught me by surprise and which I should have expected. It is more character driven rather than plot and even then, the Fletcher does not make life easy for them.
Black Stone Heart will make you uncomfortable, will make you question the actions of the characters but will never let you go. Do a favor to yourself and listen to the audiobook narrated by Fletcher himself. If you won’t fall in love with his voice and wish he was reading everything to you from now on, then there is something wrong with you.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If you enjoy fast paced grimdark fantasies, this is the book for you.
We follow Khraen and his descent into darkness, and I found that the story felt familiar yet also wholly unique. After being murdered, Khraen resurrects, knowing little of the life he had lived. All he knows is that he is drawn towards fragments of obsidian, shards of his heart, scattered across the world by the person(?) that killed him.
This book is dark. It's brutal, yet imaginative. Beautiful prose is paired with fantastic worldbuilding to help create a truly immersive story.
With each new fragment of his heart, Khraen is able to get a clue as to who he once was. What he finds out is that he was a terrible person, and actively fights against becoming that person once more. The struggle for him is that he has this incessant need to track down shards of his obsidian heart. His internal conflict was interesting to follow, and I am hoping to see him come around to accepting himself as pure evil.
As I mentioned earlier, I found this one to be fast paced, and at times, I found the story progressed too quickly. The romances were just instalove, the explanations of certain things such as the magic systems came in exposition heavy dumps, and I would have loved a little more development of the side characters.
All that being said, I really liked this one, and think every grimdark fan should give it a go.
We follow Khraen and his descent into darkness, and I found that the story felt familiar yet also wholly unique. After being murdered, Khraen resurrects, knowing little of the life he had lived. All he knows is that he is drawn towards fragments of obsidian, shards of his heart, scattered across the world by the person(?) that killed him.
This book is dark. It's brutal, yet imaginative. Beautiful prose is paired with fantastic worldbuilding to help create a truly immersive story.
With each new fragment of his heart, Khraen is able to get a clue as to who he once was. What he finds out is that he was a terrible person, and actively fights against becoming that person once more. The struggle for him is that he has this incessant need to track down shards of his obsidian heart. His internal conflict was interesting to follow, and I am hoping to see him come around to accepting himself as pure evil.
As I mentioned earlier, I found this one to be fast paced, and at times, I found the story progressed too quickly. The romances were just instalove, the explanations of certain things such as the magic systems came in exposition heavy dumps, and I would have loved a little more development of the side characters.
All that being said, I really liked this one, and think every grimdark fan should give it a go.
"Was this progress? Or had I not yet found enough of my heart to lose empathy?"
Khraen wakes up alone, barely a human, his memories lost. There are pieces and scenes of empires, magical war, powerful man and woman's hand flashing through his mind and there is a piece of shard in his heart. He knows only there are more pieces scattered around the world and he knows he needs to get them and piece together his heart in order to remember who he is.
I've seen this story compared to Highlander since our protagonist indeed has to kill a few times in order to obtain obsidian shards of his shattered heart and with it, another piece of his memory. Personally, I found myself thinking of Memento because the true conflict is definitely not "to be the only one!" but rather "is the only one someone you want to be?"
And really, as at one point Khraen asks himself, what kind of person has a black, obsidian heart?
It starts in a deceptively usual way, with our protagonist having a clear goal in mind and a named enemy in sight. And then it shifts into something more complicated and dark the more we remember alongside Khraen. When he remembers, will he like that person? Will I like it? This duplicity of final Prize and Khraen's conflicted feelings about the whole ordeal, endless justification of his decaying humanity and moral fibers being unraveled by his choices made me ponder upon the story long time after I finished.
Make no mistake, this is a grimdark story with less than heroic characters who will do things you will not like. The world is brutal and usual fantasy concepts like necromancers and wizards are complex and not easily determined by simple definitions of good and evil. But, this is Fletcher and he has this thing going on where dark and grim and gore and evil is also sometimes funny and I snorted even though I admit it's not for everyone.
The one thing I was not completely sold on was the fact Khraen is woken up in a body of 19y old boy, with all of his urges (and trust me, he has a lot of urges), so considering where his quest was going toward in second half of the book, I would say "Khraen, you dumbass" at the end of every chapter. First person pov makes a Khraen unreliable narrator purely because of his inexperience and hormones even though he is much more than what he appears. Hence, both of twists didn't surprise me as much as our protagonist, but exactly because he was such a dumbass I did get some satisfaction from it. I think my opinion was partially influenced by Khraen from Death at the Pass and Death and Dignity from [b:A Collection of Obsessions|45182959|A Collection of Obsessions|Michael R. Fletcher|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1557311181l/45182959._SX50_.jpg|69900505], so I do wonder how the two tie and how will the resolution in book #2 play out.
All in all, compulsively readable, dark, deceptively simple... Different.
With isolation and crazy outside that seem to be our new reality, I really had trouble focusing on books. This one, though, managed to grip me completely.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
ARC provided by the author.
Khraen awakens.
Haunted by the echoes of the man he once was.
Compelled to make himself and his memories whole.
Desperate to be a better man than he was.
Determined to to seek revenge for wrongs past and present.
How far is Khraen willing to go down the slippery slope of necessity?
Old habits die hard, after all.
Fletcher does it again with Black Stone Heart. Gripping from the first pages. This book made me want to stop my life and get completely lost in this story. The characters, scenery, and world building are expertly done, creating something fantastical and new. I will be sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the next instalment of The Obsidian Path.
Khraen awakens.
Haunted by the echoes of the man he once was.
Compelled to make himself and his memories whole.
Desperate to be a better man than he was.
Determined to to seek revenge for wrongs past and present.
How far is Khraen willing to go down the slippery slope of necessity?
Old habits die hard, after all.
Fletcher does it again with Black Stone Heart. Gripping from the first pages. This book made me want to stop my life and get completely lost in this story. The characters, scenery, and world building are expertly done, creating something fantastical and new. I will be sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the next instalment of The Obsidian Path.