Name: fira's review of Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames
Item: Bloody Rose
Rating: 4.5
Author: fira

Nicholas Eames

***WINNER OF REDDIT FANTASY'S BEST NOVEL OF 2018 AWARD*** ***WINNER OF FANTASY FACTION'S BEST FANTASY BOOK OF 2018 AWARD*** ***WINNER OF THE 2018 BOOKNEST FANTASY AWARD FOR BEST TRADITIONALLY PUBLISHED NOVEL*** 'Bloody Rose solidifies what Kings of the Wyld proved. Eames writes like a hurricane and has a voice like no one else in this genre' Sam Sykes 'Kings of the Wyld was fun, but Bloody Rose is gods-damned epic . . . one of the best books of the year' Fantasy Hive ***** Tam Hashford is tired of working at her local pub, slinging drinks for world-famous mercenaries and listening to the bards sing of adventure and glory in the world beyond her sleepy hometown. When the biggest mercenary band of all rolls into town, led by the infamous Bloody Rose, Tam jumps at the chance to sign on as their bard. It's adventure she wants-and adventure she gets as the crew embark on a quest that will end in one of two ways: glory or death. IT'S TIME TO TAKE A WALK ON THE WYLD SIDE ***** Reviews for the series: 'I laughed and wept and worried a lot and had the most tremendous time reading Bloody Rose. Eames is a gifted and entertaining storyteller' Kevin Hearne, author of The Iron Druid Chronicles 'Bloody Rose is bloody brilliant! It is a book that will make you remember why you fell in love with reading in the first place' The Tattooed Book Geek 'Eames once again hits the perfect balance of humor and heart, irreverent references and real emotion' Django Wexler 'A rollicking, page-turning, edge-of-your-seat road-trip of a book . . . wonderful' John Gwynne 'Absolutely awesome . . . Full of heroes, humor, and heart' Jon Hollins 'Eames' narrative voice is one of the best in this generation of fantasy authors' The Quill to Live 'Brings brazen fun and a rock & roll sensibility to the fantasy genre' Sebastien de Castell 'An entertaining, brilliantly crafted adventure . . . with just the right amount of grit and wit' Bibliosanctum 'George R. R. Martin meets Terry Pratchett' Buzzfeed

The Band, Book Two

Bloody Rose

Tam Hashford is tired of working at her local pub, slinging drinks for world-famous mercenaries and listening to the bards sing of adventure and glory in the world beyond her sleepy hometown.When the biggest mercenary band of all rolls into town, led by the infamous Bloody Rose, Tam jumps at the chance to sign on as their bard. It's adventure she wants - and adventure she gets as the crew embark on a quest that will end in one of two ways: glory or death.It's time to take a walk on the wyld side.

top contender for one of my favorite eulogies ever

fira

I used to wonder why you cared so much about those bandmates of yours. You 

 them like you never loved me. These washed-up warriors, these haggard old men with limp wands and rusted swords.

But I know better now. We all have our reasons for doing what we do. It might be the money, or the fame, or maybe, like me, you were just trying to piss off your parents. So we went and joined a band. We left our homes, abandoned our families, and hit the road. We spent every day and night with our bandmates. We ate with them, drank with them, argued whether or not a hydrake counts as one kill or seven.

We slept beside them, fought beside them, bled beside them. We trusted them to watch our backs and save our asses — which they did, time and time again. And somewhere out there, between one gig and the next, something changed. We woke up one day and realized home was no longer behind us. That our families were with us all along. We looked around at these miscreants, these motley crews, and knew in our hearts there was nowhere we'd rather be than by their side.

Glory fades. Gold slips through our fingers like water, or sand. Love is the only thing worth fighting for. My father knew this. He loved his bandmates. He lived for them. He would have died for them if they asked him to, without question. Instead, he died for me. So, I guess he must have loved me after all.

She cried for a while, because she was young, and lonely, and terrified of the future.

Deborah Kerr

Colleen

5 Stars

**My #2 best read of 2018**


  “The world is big, the young are restless, and girls just want to have fun.”

It’s always tough when an author has an outstanding debut. It puts so much pressure on the sequel. After how awesome  Kings of the Wyld  was, I was a little nervous about Bloody Rose. But I needn’t have been, because not only did Bloody Rose live up to my expectations, in some ways the sequel was even better than this first book!

Six years after the events of  Kings of the Wyld , young Tam Hashford leaves her quiet, predictable life behind to become a bard for her favorite mercenary band, Fable. What starts out seeming like a coming of age adventure quickly turns more complicated as the band is embroiled in forces bigger than they could have imagined.

Note: these are billed as able to read as standalone novels, but I< u>highly recommend reading them in order! Although the plots are separate, there is some overlap in characters. And there are definitely things in Bloody Rose that won’t be nearly as impactful if you haven’t read  Kings of the Wyld .

Like the first book, Bloody Rose draws analogies to the fame of rock stars and has many Easter eggs and subtle references. Fame was a major theme of the story: what people will do to get it, what happens when they lose it, how it changes people, etc. At first, I was hesitant about this story, because I’ve never been into following fame. I love music and movies, but I have a lifelong disinterest in fangirling over celebrities. I never drooled over boybands or daydreamed about actors. It’s all so fake, and I find that extremely off-putting. Tam certainly starts off as a fluffy-headed groupie, and I didn’t care for her initially. But my fears were misplaced. The story doesn’t paint celebrity as some amazing dream life. It’s about the behind-the-scenes results both good and bad. Eames did an excellent job of capturing how fame can be powerful yet destructive and how meeting your heroes can change everything. It also explores themes about self-identity, motherhood, relationships, and how we are influenced by others’ expectations. (But I still say no relationship that starts out as fan girl / celebrity can ever be truly healthy.) This story has depth and meaning while still being wildly entertaining, heartfelt, and humorous. But while this sequel still has plenty of humorous moments, I should mention that the overall tone is noticeably darker.


  “Funny, Tam thought, how different a thing could seem at a distance—how beautiful, despite the ugly truth. Was it worth it, she wondered, to look closer? To examine something, or someone, if doing so risked changing your perception of them forever after? She was young enough to think the answer was yes, but too young to know if she was right.” 

The best part of this series is the characters. Eames draws complex characters. Even though there are many characters they are all so distinct – each with their own strengths, weaknesses, and motivations. They are all so vivid, and the interactions between them were dynamic! It was impossible for me not to get sucked in.


   “Evil thrives on division. It stokes the embers of pride and prejudice until they become an inferno that might one day devour us all.”

“Glory fades. Gold slips through our fingers like water, or sand. Love is the only thing worth fighting for.”

“You didn’t get to be the villain of one story, she supposed, unless you were the hero of another.” 

One thing I absolutely adored about Bloody Rose was the epic girl power going on. It didn’t bother me that the characters from the first book were mostly men; they were all engaging characters. But I was still excited to see more female warriors. These are not women who stay home and darn socks. And I give Eames massive props for writing not just one, but three (well four if you want to count Tam; I’m on the fence about that) dynamic, powerful women. SO MANY writers (particularly men) struggle to create believable badass women. Their attempts are usually either the overly sexy eye candy or the female meathead. But each of these women had distinct, multifaceted personalities, different driving forces and different strengths and flaws. It was awesome!


   “A woman cuts, hacks, slashes, and strikes – a whirling storm of fire and steel. Born in shadow, her destiny eclipsed by the brightest of stars. What else can she be but a comet, burning bright enough to draw every eye as she streaks toward some unfathomable fate?” 

Another great thing about this book is the astounding actions scenes. Eames excels at describing both close combat and overall battle scenes. Many authors are only good at one of the other. And yes, there is a big difference between describing hand-to-hand combat and describing battle tactics. Both were done superbly in Bloody Rose. This was one area that the sequel improved in. Not that the fighting descriptions in  Kings of the Wyld were bad. Not at all! But they got even better in< i>Bloody Rose. I was totally absorbed in the story and could hardly put it down.


   “Most people, she figured, sized up the truth when it came knocking, decided they didn’t much like the look of it, and shut the door in its face.” 

The complex characters, page-gripping action, engaging plot, and deeper meaning all combined into an amazing adventure that was truly a pleasure to read. I can’t rave enough about these books! I may not fangirl over rockstars, but I am certainly a fan of this series! I can’t wait for the third book to come out!

“This doesn’t mean you’re off the hook when it comes to being our bard. If I so much as step on a lizard you’d better tell the world I kicked a dragon to death.”
RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 5 Stars 
Writing Style: 5 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 5 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 5 Stars
Level of Captivation: 5 Stars
Originality: 5 Stars

Ryan LaFerney

“Glory fades. Gold slips through our fingers like water, or sand. Love is the only thing worth fighting for.”-Nicholas Eames from Bloody Rose

Bloody Rose, the second book in The Band series, is Nicholas Eames stellar follow up to The Kings of The Wyld. Bloody Rose is a sequel of sorts but could be read as a standalone set in the same world and featuring some of the same characters. Likes its predecessor it is full of high stakes, brutal epic battles, deep characters, engaging prose, transformative emotional twists, a monster menagerie, vivid and imaginative settings but unlike its predecessor it even features (gasp) romance! 

A fellow reviewer said that this book is like "...Dungeons and Dragons campaign, where you get to play as a Lesbian bard who is allowed the honor of going on a few quests and ultimately telling the story of the most famous mercenary this side of the Heartwyld." And, while that's true, it is so much more than a book of ridiculous quests. Bloody Rose is a novel full of heart and deep themes. Bloody Rose is an adventure yes, but it is also a coming-of-age story which explores very important themes like love, sexuality, friendship and family.


 Rose (Gabe's daughter from The Kings of the Wyld) has returned from the siege and battle at Castia where she earned a reputation as a ferocious fighter, and she has taken her band on the road, a tour of arenas where she and her band fight monsters for the entertainment of crowds and, of course, for cash. One stop on the tour is in Ardburg, where ayoung woman named Tam slings drinks and cleans tables at the Cornerstone bar. Rose and her band stop in to get hammered, and adopt Tam as their new bard, despite the vehement refusal of Tam’s widowed, depressive, angry father to allow her any adventuring. However, the Brumal Horde (the Heartwyld Horde from Kings plus every monster you can possible imagine and a thousand you can’t) has regrouped after its defeat at Castia and is on the move for vengeance, and every mercenary band worth its liquor is moving to stop it. And Fable decides to travel in the opposite direction towards Diremarch...along the way, Tam will learn what it means to have a family.

This was an enjoyable read and Eames has many commendable qualities as a writer. He has a vivid imagination, his characters are charming, sympathetic and funny. BUT his plotting is often lacking. I found a good several hundred pages of this novel to be kind of slow. And this is because of how Eames positioned Tam to be somewhat of an outsider to Fable. Her duties as the bard and as the newest member slows momentum. Also, Eames novels do feel like a patchwork of quests leading to the ultimate quest. This can get a bit tiresome.

Still any fantasy novel that name drops Iron Maiden gets four stars in my book and as stated, Eames is an enjoyable writer. Plus, Bloody Rose has so much freakin' heart! It's ultimately a book that asks: What constitutes family? and what is worth fighting for? and its a book that isn't afraid to wryly admit that maybe we are all broken on the inside.

One of my favorite exchanges in the book illustrates this theme when Tam notices her favorite uncle is terribly wounded.

“Uncle, are you okay?”

The old man’s eyes floated for a moment before landing on her. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“There’s sword in you.”

“Ah, well… there’s a sword in all of us,” he said, then winked as if he’d said something profound.

Bloody Rose is a strangely profound and humorous epic fantasy from an author with rare gifts. Cudos Eames.

Celeste Richardson

You can find this review and more at Novel Notions. 

The world is big, the young are restless, and girls just want to have fun.

Bloody Rose made me feel all of the feelings; I want to follow Tam’s lead and sing its praises from the rooftops. Kings of the Wyld was incredibly fun, and I expected the same from its followup, but Eames managed to pull on my heartstrings with Bloody Rose in ways that his first novel did not. I picked up Bloody Rose excited to embark on an Easter egg hunt for classic rock and other pop culture references. While I found what I was looking for in spades, Eames delivered so much more than that. I read the last twenty pages or so through a veil of tears, which is the opposite of what I expected going in.

“Glory fades. Gold slips through our fingers like water, or sand. Love is the only thing worth fighting for.”

There were so many amazing aspects to this book that I almost don’t know where to begin, but I’ll start with the musical references. While I caught quite a few of the references in KotW, the musical references in Bloody Rose were more based in the 80s music scene instead of the 70s, and 80s rock was a gigantic part of my childhood. There were lines of dialogue taken from songs by Queen and Guns and Roses and so many more, and mercenary bands whose names riffed off of groups that I still love. Men Without Helmets and the Duran twins and The White Snakes were just a few of the brief references that made me grin from ear to ear when I came across them. There was a frontman whose name was a combination of two men who fronted the same band in the 80s. There was a character who sure played a mean pingball (yes, I spelled it like that on purpose). Mortal Kombat was referenced at one point, which made me laugh out loud. There were a few different references to one of my favorite movies of all time, The Princess Bride. There was even little tips of the hat to Robert Jordan, George R.R. Martin, and Joe Abercrombie. 

You didn’t get to be the villain of one story, she supposed, unless you were the hero of another.

As much as I enjoyed all the references, the thing that blows my mind about this book is that you could have removed every single one of those references and it would have still been an amazing story. I thoroughly enjoyed Ready Player One, but the references used in that book were the story’s glue, and I don’t think it could have stood without them. The references in Eames’s novels have been like sprinkles on top of an already delicious cake; they’re fun, but not necessary to the plot. 

Most people, she figured, sized up the truth when it came knocking, decided they didn’t much like the look of it, and shut the door in its face.

However, something that was essential for me, and is definitely one of the reasons that I have loved both of these books so fiercely, is the portrayal of mercenaries as this world’s rock stars. Eames actually gave us more of a backstage pass to band life in Bloody Rose, and he absolutely nailed it. Fable is the epitome of what a rock band should be, and Bloody Rose is a killer front woman, both figuratively and literally. I’ve fronted a band before, and lived on a tour bus, and played a show in one town and awakened in a different city to a repeat of the previous day with a different backdrop. Bloody Rose nailed every single one of those elements. We didn’t have groupies or guzzle gallons of alcohol a night since we were a Christian rock band, but Eames’s portrayal of life lived in close quarters, of being lulled to sleep by the bumps in the road, of even the most fascinating of careers losing some of its shine when it becomes too repetitious or when you gaze too often behind the curtain, of bandmates becoming closer than family, of paring your life down to what can fit under your bunk, of losing yourself in the persona you’ve built and forgetting who you are at your core, were all incredibly spot on. I related to all of the band elements on an almost spiritual level.

When you fought alongside those whose lives meant more to you than your own, succumbing to fear simply wasn’t an option, because nothing…was as scary as the prospect of losing them.

What I didn’t expect was how powerfully emotional Bloody Rose ended up being. Eames did an impeccable job of reminding readers that the term “tragic artist” evolved for a reason and is generally at least somewhat true. Almost all art, in whatever form it takes, stems from an emotion so vast that the artist has to pour it out in some fashion or they’ll explode. This is especially true of music, and the songs that touch us the most deeply are those that are raw and visceral, like the artist melted the heart in their chest and poured it from their lips for all the world to experience. Eames gave us larger than life characters with absolutely tragic backstories that had shaped them into the powerhouses the audience expected to see. Through Tam, we got a glimpse behind the personas and were able to bear witness to the tragedies, which cemented my attachment to the characters.

“I was raised on my father’s stories, spoon-fed glory until I hungered for it-until I thought I’d starve without it.”

Speaking of Tam, I absolutely adore her. Her character development throughout the book was incredible, in my opinion. But what really sold me on her was the fact that she’s an actual musician. I feel like the fantasy genre is sorely lacking in novels written from a musician’s perspective. (If you have recommendations, please comment them below! I’d love to read anything with a musician protagonist!) I’ve read a few in the Christian fantasy subgenre, which makes sense because music is so closely tied to worship, but I can’t think of many secular titles outside of The Name of the Wind. I also love that Tam is from a musical background, and that she often is requested to play a famous song written by her mother. This song, “Together,” sounds like “We Belong” by Pat Benatar in my head. There was a scene where this song was magically amplified through every flame in a city and it was one of the most magical moments I’ve ever read. Outside of her music, Tam is feisty and funny and loyal and brave, and not content to just sit back and write songs about Fable’s exploits, like a regular bard. I really love her.

“There’s a whole wide world out there. It’s messy, and ugly, and strange…But it’s beautiful, too.”

I know I’ve already spent nearly a thousand words gushing, but I just have to mention how epic the big final battle was, and how moved I was by the ending. It was sad and poignant and hopeful, and I wouldn’t change a word. This War of the Roses was so much more epic than the factual British war of the same name. And while I’ve only really discussed Tam and briefly mentioned Bloody Rose, every single member of Fable was incredible and so well-written that I’m surprised they didn’t physically burst to life from their inked pages, like Cora’s tattoos raging to life. Cora and Brune and Freecloud and even Roderick were all so tangible, and I would give almost anything to sit around a fire with them and hear their stories. I could wax poetic about how Cora spins fear and pain into something magical, about Brune’s search for his true identity even when he would rather just live life not knowing, about Freecloud’s selfless love and how it bordered on addiction, about how Roderick had made a home for himself in a world that viewed him as monstrous, about Rose’s inner war between her thirst for fame and her need to keep her loved ones safe, but I’ll spare you those extra thousands of words and beg you to please, just read their story. And their roles in the aforementioned final battle were among some of the most epic I’ve read in my life. I read with my heart in my throat and tears on my cheeks, and I gloried in every sentence.

There is nothing, I think, so wasteful-or so pointlessly tragic-as a battle that should haver have been fought in the first place.

If you couldn’t tell, I enjoyed this book immensely, and I’m so sad that it’s over. I can’t wait to see what Eames writes next! I heartily recommend this book and its predecessor to literally everyone. Bloody Rose is fun and heartfelt and will have you singing “Don’t Stop Believing” at the top of your lungs. Or, at least, inside your head. Fable is headlining, and seeing them is more than worth the cost of admission. They’ll rock your world.

The bards tell us that we live so long as there are those alive who remember us. In that can, I think it’s safe to say that Bloody Rose will live forever.

C. W.  Plating

I gave this two stars because the hover state says "It was ok" and that pretty much sums up how I felt after reading this. The writing is good, but after Kings of the Wyld I just found it a bit dull. It's not bad, but it isn't as gripping as its predecessor. I think it's difficult to capture the magic, comedy, and "bad-ass-y" feeling of Getting The Band Back Together: The RPG.

The book's primary weak point, at least in my opinion, is that the plot just seems so... bland. Nothing really happens apart from (view spoiler)[people dying(view spoiler)[. As delightfully absurd as the setting is, at least the first book's characters had some real dire stuff that had to be dealt with right away. This book had none of that, nothing really happened.

Bloody Rose was ok, it has some moments, but I found myself wishing it was a whole book about wizards slinging ED potions to fund their research instead. (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

Emily Booth

It's really a 3.5, as I really didn't vibe with the MC anywhere near as much as I did with Slow Hands in the last one, but it is a good fun book - nothing to complain about!

Arthur

Yaffa

Emil Bashyrov

Michael Cowell

Modith D.

Rory O'K

Alex (They/Them)

A band of fabled mercenaries tour a wild fantasy landscape, battling monsters in arenas in front of thousands of adoring fans. But, a secret and dangerous gig ushers them to the frozen north, and the band is never one to waste a shot at glory. Live fast, die young. Tam Hashford is tired of working at her local pub, slinging drinks for world-famous mercenaries and listening to the bards sing of adventure and glory in the world beyond her sleepy hometown. When the biggest mercenary band of all, led by the infamous Bloody Rose, rolls into town, Tam jumps at the chance to sign on as their bard. It's adventure she wants - and adventure she gets as the crew embark on a quest that will end in one of two ways: glory or death. It's time to take a walk on the wyld side. "Humorous twists and pulse-ratcheting action abound in Bloody Rose, but its Eames' knack for heart-wrenching poignancy that makes his warm, wonderful fantasy so harmonious." - NPR For more from Nicholas Eames, check out: Kings of the Wyld

Deborah Kerr &
Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames

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