City of Wonders

James A. Moore — 2015

Old Canhoon, the City of Wonders, is having a population explosion as refugees from Tyrne and Roathes alike try to escape the Sa'ba Taalor. All along the border between the Blasted Lands and the Fellein Empire armies clash and the most powerful empire in the world is pushed back toward the old Capital. From the far east the Pilgrim gathers an army of the faithful, heading for Old Canhoon. In Old Canhoon itself the imperial family struggles against enemies old and new as the spies of their enemies begin removing threats to the gods of the Seven Forges and prepare the way for the invading armies of the Seven Kings. In the distant Taalor valley Andover Lashk continues his quest and must make a final decision, while at the Mounds, something inhuman is awakened and set free. War is Here. Blood will flow and bodies will burn.

Reviews

Sarah Escorsa@shrimpy

Mar 8, 2022

Actual rating: 3.5 stars. Bloody hell. Now that's what I call war and violence and gore and death and destruction and stuff! So delicious. Surprisingly enough, this scrumptiously grisly environment didn't sit so well with my little crustaceans. Believe it or not, my poor babies got slightly terrified as we were reading the book. Our Shrimpy Lord knows how much they usually love their bloody bed time stories, but this one got them all scared and panicky and stuff. So much so that Fleet Admiral DaShrimp actually had to administer a mild sedative to calm them down. It's kind of disappointing, really. You'd expect such a ruthless bunch of ferocious arthropods to have a much higher tolerance to bloodbaths and mass slaughters. I am afraid there has been a severe relapse in their training these past few weeks. I think it's high time to reinstate the good old "grow a backbone an exoskeleton or else you'll become paella material" threat. Always works like a charm. But I digress. Just a teensy little bit. Soooo. City of Wonders. The first two books in this series were a complete joke compared to this one. Because, seriously, the level of devastation and carnage and annihilation and butchering is quite unprecedented here. Not to mention the very contagious Oh Hey Let's Slightly Massacre Everything/Everyone/Whatever that Stands in our Way Virus (OHLSMEEWtSioV™) that seems to be going around. No one/nothing/no nothing is spared here: men, women (bonus points for pregnant ones), kids, trees, plants, cities, villages, slugs, fluffy bunnies…Anything goes! It's Equal Opportunity Extermination Time (EOET™), yay! Courtesy of whom? Of my used-to-be-yummy Sa'ba Taalor, of course! I have to admit that my utter lust moderate affection for them kinda sorta started going downhill when I read book 2 and found out what was behind their freaking veils (view spoiler)[EW EW EW YUCK YUCK YUCK (hide spoiler)]. And now I am most definitely done done done with them. To think I once considered them to be the hottest savages around. Alas, it turns out they are naught but a bunch of bloodthirsty zealots who can't won't think for themselves and do naught but blindly follow their freaking gods' obliterating commands. They are vicious and brutal and sadistic and evil and barbaric and cruel. Damn, they are so diabolically vile that even their kids are malevolent, murderous beasts. This is more or less what the Sa'Ba Taalor kids look like when dear mommy prepares their beloved peanut butter jelly sandwiches. Imagine what delightful little urchins they turn into when faced with the enemy. Okay, I bet you're wondering why I gave this book a 3.5-star rating. You're not? Well that's just too bad, since I'm about to tell you the reason behind that very acute rating anyway (view spoiler)[you're welcome (hide spoiler)]: as much as I love blood, gore, violence (view spoiler)[yay! (hide spoiler)] and homicidal maniacs, the whole Kill Kill Kill Die Die Die Business (KKKDDDB™) kind of gets old after a while. Especially when it's always the same team that's in charge of it. Plus, the Andover sub-plot was repetitively meh. Plus plus, something that I didn't want to happen happened so when it happened I wasn't really happy that it had happened. Because it was too predictable and convenient and stuff. And to be honest, I was going to go for a 3-star rating because of it. BUT. The Uber Cool Silent Army of Total Gloriousness (UCSAoTG™) made an appearance at the end of the book and almost all was almost well in the world again. More or less. And now that the UCSAoTG™ is rockin' and rollin', it is high time for my Dream Team of Utter Awesomeness (DToUA™) (view spoiler)[aka MY Merros + Hugh Hefner Desh and his wondrous bunnies sorceresses + kick-ass empress Nachia (hide spoiler)] to wake up, smell the whisky coffee, take charge, and beat the bloody shrimping crap out of the Freakingly Slaughterish Religious Fanatics of Doom (FSRFoD™). That's the spirit! We are SO going to win this war, people of Fellein! · Book 1: Seven Forges ★★★★ · Book 2: The Blasted Lands ★★★★ · Book 4: The Silent Army ★★