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Yay we're finished! Let's talk about the ending, our favorite characters, etc. here. This is the first book in a series. Who wants to read the next one now?

Random Reads does it again. Another great book that I wouldn't have discovered if it wasn't for this group...so for that, thank you.

I had a lot of fun with this book. Nicholas Eames tells a story with a lot of heart and humor. I can't remember the last book that made me laugh out loud as many times as this one did. I'll definitely be checking out the second book in this adventure.

There were a lot of characters here, and to be honest, I struggled to to keep them straight sometimes...I was continually mixing up Gabe and Clay, and had the same issue with Lastleaf and Larkspur. I also could have used more from Jain.

I also might have missed something with Larkspur...she was bad, then she got knocked on the head and was good, or was she faking it...then she was back to bad and I may have missed why but suddenly she was good again. I was confused. ha!

The one thing that kind of bothered me with this book, was Lastleaf. After our introduction to him, and a small bit of backstory on the genocide of the monsters, I thought we were going to get deep into his character. I was empathizing with him and figured that we might tread into some common ground between him and the band. Nope, we kind of glazed over that whole piece, and I never truly invested in him a big villain. He just seemed to be a bit player in chaos of getting to Castia.

For a fantasy book, this one was very easy to get into and was entertaining as hell. Fun choice...now where can I get my own owlbear?

I really enjoyed this! Big thanks to Bobbi for suggesting it for the group :) Being a newbie to fantasy this story was fun and the world pretty easy to understand.

Moog was my favorite; he had me laughing so many times throughout the book. Like how during the battle at the end he pulls a wand out of his bag and says some words that scare the horde around them and causes them to retreat and Clay is like “what spell was that?�� And Moog is just like “Spell? This is just a stick!�� 😂 I wish there would’ve been a little more page time with our villain. His death in the end seemed less epic than I was expecting. And speaking of epic, I loved how the mercenaries were like rockstars in the book, and there were some pretty fun nods to real bands (Neal the Young…lol)

Mike, I think in the end Larkspur changed her ways because of Ganelon, though it was a little weird because I mean, she was pretty deceitful and cut Clay’s hand off and everything. The group was just like “oh ok cool�� when she came back at the end and didn’t seem bothered by it 🤷🏼‍♀��

All in all this was a fun story and definitely the type of fantasy I can get into I am very interested in checking out the next book. And yes, where can I get an owlbear??

True story... there is a special edition publication of this book that comes with collectors postcards, and one of them is the art for an owlbear. There was a hot minute when I seriously considered buying that edition just for the postcards. Ha!

I’m so glad you two loved it!!! Bloody Rose is the sequel and predictably it follows Gabe’s daughter Rose and it’s all about her band. I have yet to read it but I hear it’s just as good if not better than book 1.

Finished the book and loved it! I too would never have picked up this book if it wasn't for the Random Reads group.
I laughed out loud at so many sections-
I loved Matrick's bond with Moog, grumpy Ganelon, Gabe knowing he's the front man but that Clay is the real leader.
I loved the side characters Kit, Gregor & Dane (such kind brotherly love), even Jain. Larkspur redeemed herself at the end. Maybe some of the characters were not fleshed out because they will be featured in sequels (Ganelon is waiting in the quarry for Larkspur to come for him)?
I expected Lastleaf to go out with more fanfare.
And, I loved the acknowledgement the author gave his brother "....you are the Clay Cooper to my Gabriel"
Great book choice