Rate this book

The Battle Of Verril (2011)

by Joseph R. Lallo(Favorite Author)

3.99 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Smashwords

series

The Book of Deacon

review 1: The Book of Deacon is the first in a three-year series by Joseph Lallo, followed by The Great Convergence then The Battle of Verril. I loved this series dearly and will miss not knowing what happens next. You can never read something the first time again. Lallo has a special talent when it comes to keeping you on your toes as you go on. The cover art, however, not so much. The first book isn't as much of a tell-tale to its plot as the others. If you are acquiring the set in which this weird symbol on the cover is replaced by a woman in blue, beware of the following sequels; don't study them too long without expecting a potentially major spoil alert! That being said, even the biggest spoiler in the covers was quickly paled in comparison to the final... more end.
review 2: I couldn't hack it any more. This story had resorted to introducing plot elements and character traits entirely at its own convenience.The straw broke as the Chosen (and Deacon) were battling hordes of undead. Despite this being a team made up of masters of the arcane and mystic arts, their approach is to throw brute force at the battle, each doing their _own thing_ with _no cooperative strategy_ whatsoever. First, they try fire. That doesn't work. Something is feeding energy to the undead. Really.. Deacon tells them this after this first attempt. So what do they do? They try bigger fire. And, surprise, that doesn't work. Hmmm.. I know.. maybe even _more fire!_ And.. wait for it.. yeah, still no.When they finally learn they need to destroy these spires of crystals on the roofs of many storage buildings, Lain and Ivy dive headlong into swarms of creatures and inevitably get overwhelmed. Ether turns to stone so she can slowly _climb_ to a rooftop, then when she too gets stranded her solution is to shapeshift to a griffin so she can pick up Ivy and use her as a battering ram. Right. But wait.. Ivy suddenly "remembers" that she is afraid of heights and panics. Since when has Ivy been afraid of heights? At no point earlier has this been mentioned. But hey, this realization will surely add some extra drama to this tense battle, right?Hmm... spires on a rooftop. Slow-moving hordes of undead. Perhaps.. just perhaps.. Ember could use her wind form to get to each spire - I doubt the undead can keep up with her - then switch to stone form to destroy them. Rinse, and repeat. What's all this nonsense with shapeshifting to a griffin?These people are idiots. They deserve to lose. Certainly, they've lost me. less

Download links for: The Battle of Verril

Advertising