Deadlocked 6 A.R. Wise

Add to Goodreads

Title: Deadlocked 6

Author: A.R. Wise
Series: Deadlocked (Book #6; Series #2)

Genre: Horror

Length: 238 pages

Published: 2012

Publisher: A.R. Wise

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) The High Rollers are falling apart. Billy is leading them into war against the wishes of Laura, who is intent on living in peace. Unbeknownst to them, one among them holds the cure that could save all mankind, and there are two powerful enemies that want it. Everything has been leading up to this, and the members of this fragile family are going to have to go through hell if they're going to survive.

No one is safe as the end draws near.

My Review:

I give this book a 4 out of 5.

So this one is only get four stars from me. Mostly it's because it took awhile to really get into the book. There was action, intrigue, character development galore...but I think I was just thrown off by the addition of several characters and totally new information that was given to us. Otherwise it was an exciting book. It ended with a bang, and I am naturally excited to read part 7. 

You can purchase Deadlocked 6 through Amazon in Kindle format. 

Have you read Deadlocked 6? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Winter's Heart by Robert Jordan

Add to Goodreads

Title: Winter's Heart

Author: Robert Jordan
Series: Wheel of Time (Book #9)

Genre: Epic Fantasy

Length: 668 pages

Published: 2000

Publisher: Tor Books

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Rand is on the run with Min, and in Cairhein, Cadsuane is trying to figure out where he is headed. Rand's destination is, in fact, one she has never considered.

Mazrim Taim, leader of the Black Tower, is revealed to be a liar. But what is he up to?

Faile, with the Aiel Maidens, Bain and Chiad, and her companions, Queen Alliandre and Morgase, is prisoner of Savanna's sept.

Perrin is desperately searching for Faile. With Elyas Machera, Berelain, the Prophet and a very mixed "army" of disparate forces, he is moving through country rife with bandits and roving Seanchan. The Forsaken are ever more present, and united, and the man called Slayer stalks Tel'aran'rhiod and the wolfdream.

In Ebou Dar, the Seanchan princess known as Daughter of the Nine Moons arrives - and Mat, who had been recuperating in the Tarasin Palace, is introduced to her. Will the marriage that has been foretold come about?

There are neither beginnings or endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it is a beginning...

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

This one is a bit slow to start. At first we follow Perrin for a bit, as he learns that Faile has been captured. We also follow Elayne as she struggles to make Andor hers and take the throne that is hers by birthright. We also get to see (finally!) what has happened with Mat and how he manages to escape the Seanchan and Ebou Dar. We get to learn a little bit more about the Sea Folk, and we get to watch as Elayne and Aviendha finally adopt each other as first-sisters. 

Interspersed are a few chapters with Rand and Min, telling us just what they have been up to. It all comes together at the end, though, as the action suddenly picks up in an exciting battle against the Forsaken while both Rand and Nynaeve are incapacitated. Definitely an exciting addition to the series - especially considering what Rand manages to do by the end of the final chapter. I won't give that away - you'll have to read for yourself!

Next up: Crossroads of Twilight.

You can purchase Winter's Heart through Amazon in hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read Winter's Heart? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

The Final Descent by Rick Yancey

Add to Goodreads

Title: The Final Descent

Author: Rick Yancey
Series: The Monstrumologist (Book #4)

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Length: 310 pages

Published: 2013 

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Will Henry and Dr. Warthrop have encountered many horrors together—but can Will endure a monstrumological terror without his mentor?

Will Henry has been through more that seems possible for a boy of fourteen. He’s been on the brink of death on more than one occasion, he has gazed into hell—and hell has stared back at him, and known his face. But through it all, Dr. Warthrop has been at his side.

When Dr. Warthrop fears that Will’s loyalties may be shifting, he turns on Will with a fury, determined to reclaim his young apprentice’s devotion. And so Will must face one of the most horrific creatures of his monstrumology career—and he must face it alone.

Over the course of one day, Will’s life—and Pellinor Warthrop’s destiny—will lie in balance. In the terrifying depths of the Monstrumarium, they will face a monster more terrible than any they could have imagined—and their fates will be decided.

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

Intense. This was perhaps the most intense of all four books in this series. Throughout the series, we have witnessed Will Henry's change from the boy who used to get sick during dissections to the haunted young man who barely blinks an eye at killing someone. 

The narrative jumps back and forth between New York City and forty years after that at Warthrop's home. Bit by bit the story is told, layering out the details in a way that one does not even begin to suspect the ending. This was probably the best of all four of the Monstrumologist books. 

You can purchase The Final Descent through Amazon in hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read The Final Descent? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

The Isle of Blood by Rick Yancey

Add to Goodreads

Title: The Isle of Blood

Author: Rick Yancey
Series: The Monstrumologist (Book #3)

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Length: 538 pages

Published: 2011 

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) When Dr. Warthrop goes hunting the "Holy Grail of Monstrumology" with his eager new assistant, Arkwright, he leaves Will Henry in New York. Finally, Will can enjoy something that always seemed out of reach: a normal life with a real family. But part of Will can't let go of Dr. Warthrop, and when Arkwright returns claiming that the doctor is dead, Will is devastated--and not convinced.

Determined to discover the truth, Will travels to London, knowing that if he succeeds, he will be plunging into depths of horror worse than anything he has experienced so far. His journey will take him to Socotra, the Isle of Blood, where human beings are used to make nests and blood rains from the sky--and will put Will Henry's loyalty to the ultimate test.

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

This was the longest book in the series. There is, naturally, a lot of danger. We see many characters from the first two books in here as well: John Kearns, Abraham Von Helrung, and Lilly Bates, just to name a few. It all starts with a mysterious Englishman showing up on Dr. Warthrop's doorstep with a package from John Kearns for him. That package causes Will Henry and Dr. Warthrop to end up traversing the world in search of the Holy Grail of monstrumology: the magnificum. 

Once again, the reader is taken on a journey which poses some pretty deep questions of morality and ethics. Who would you choose: the lady or the tiger? That is the decision Will Henry must make many times throughout the story. Definitely worth the read. I'm excited to read the final volume in this series!

You can purchase The Isle of Blood through Amazon in hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read The Isle of Blood? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Deadlocked 5 by A.R. Wise

Add to Goodreads

Title: Deadlocked 5

Author: A.R. Wise
Series: Deadlocked (Book #5; Series #2)

Genre: Horror

Length: 196 pages

Published: 2012

Publisher: A.R. Wise

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Twenty years have passed since the zombie apocalypse devastated the world. A single man is on a quest of revenge in search of the people responsible for the outbreak of the zombie virus. His quest leads him to a discovery in the western United States that will irrevocably change his goal.

Meanwhile, a new world is revealed that is under the strict control of the same people that were responsible for the plague. Two innocent prisoners of this regime must escape and learn the truth about the world they never knew existed.

Deadlocked 5 is the start of a new, epic series that will change everything you thought you new about the zombie apocalypse. The apocalypse was just the beginning!

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5.

So this is the first book in the second Deadlocked series, and it takes place twenty years after the zombie apocalypse began. Each chapter is told in first person by a different character. The character name is given at the beginning so that you know who you are following. The main characters that we follow are Ben Watanabe, and Cobra Dawn. 

We learn early on that Ben is the same Ben that was being experimented on along with Annie. The last we saw him, he was a thirteen year old kid that just murdered four men and was watching Reagan, Laura, and Annie fly off. Now, he's twenty years older and on a hunt to find and assassinate the twelve men who were responsible for the zombie apocalypse - a mission, we learn, that his father set him on. 

Cobra Dawn is an entirely different creature. Born and raised for her entire eighteen years in an underground facility, she escapes with a fellow Dawn named Hailey to the surface. There the two girls meet Hero. Yes, the same Hero from Deadlocked 3 and Deadlocked 4. 

A few new characters are introduced, including the High Rollers - a group that's been trying to find and destroy the government facilities, like the one Cobra was raised in. A couple more familiar characters show up. As usual, A.R. Wise uses a lot of foreshadowing. Nothing he includes is trivial. Be prepared for a roller coaster of emotions in Deadlocked 5. 

You can purchase Deadlocked 5 through Amazon in Kindle format. 

Have you read Deadlocked 5? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Deadlocked 4 by A.R. Wise

Add to Goodreads

Title: Deadlocked 4

Author: A.R. Wise
Series: Deadlocked (Book #4; Series #1)

Genre: Horror

Length: 150 pages

Published: 2012

Publisher: A.R. Wise

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) It all ends here. The characters of the Deadlocked series have been through nearly unbearable challenges, but they're about to face the hardest yet. Kim has been taken by the cruelest, most vile person in the series, and it's up to Billy and Levon to save her. All the while, Laura fights for her life in the grip of the military as they perform tests on her daughter, Annie, that are risking the little girl's life.

The conspiracy behind the rise of the zombie plague will be revealed as Reagan uncovers the horrible secret that led to the murder of six and a half billion people. The world hangs in the balance as one family fights to survive.

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5.

I am blowing through this series. Once I start one of the books in it, I can't seem to stop. It helps that they're nice and short, of course, so I can read them in a couple hours. The later books, from what I've seen, are supposed to be much longer - closer to full length novels, so I'm sure it'll take me more than a couple hours to read those. 

This is the final book in the first Deadlocked series. Deadlocked 5 will jump ahead twenty years. This is also the first time the author really shows the story from multiple viewpoints. Book One was following David, Book Two followed Laura, and Book Three followed Billy. Book Four shows us what has happened to Kim, what's going on with Hero, Mark, Billy, and Laura. And we also get a ton of insight into Reagan's character, as well as a lot of very valuable information, including the how, who, and why the zombie apocalypse was set into action. We also glimpse another character, which according to the author will show up in the second Deadlocked series. 

You can purchase Deadlocked 4 through Amazon in Kindle format. 

Have you read Deadlocked 4? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Deadlocked 3 by A.R. Wise

Add to Goodreads

Title: Deadlocked 3

Author: A.R. Wise
Series: Deadlocked (Book #3; Series #1)

Genre: Horror

Length: 138 pages

Published: 2012

Publisher: A.R. Wise

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) The Deadlocked series continues as Billy heads into the city in search of his mother. During his quest, he will meet a strident military figure that will alter his journey and two brothers that will become his closest allies. However, his trip will endanger the family he has only just met, and he might not be able to save them.

Billy's journey into the city will reveal many of the secrets of this penultimate novella. No characters are safe from the terror that has engulfed the city, and as the motives of those in charge begin to be revealed, the fate of all mankind will be in question.

My Review:

I give this book a 4 out of 5.

I'm giving this one less stars than the first two in the series, only because I felt that it wasn't as thrilling as the first two. Don't get me wrong, it was still excellently written. It just lacked the gut-wrenching horror that we saw through Laura's eyes and the way David was slow to understand what was happening and how he survived, just barely, to try to save his family.  

You can purchase Deadlocked 3 through Amazon in Kindle format. 

Have you read Deadlocked 3? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.