My Favorite Books

The Walking Drum
Ender's Game
Dune
Jhereg
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Curse of Chalion
The Name of the Wind
Chronicles of the Black Company
The Faded Sun Trilogy
The Tar-Aiym Krang

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Review: Shikaree

Shikaree Shikaree by M.J. Oelkers

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the second of the Arnstead series; and the first that I have actually read. Although the MC of the first reappears here, he is primarily a support character in this work that is focused on a new MC PoV that actually seemed to be a more sympathetic protagonist just struggling to survive (as such, it can easily stand on its own, but I enjoyed the world enough to go back and read the first if I still had Kindle Unlimited). Here we also get a standard fantasy trope of a long vanished “magical” civilization now only known for their surviving artifacts and powerful relics (which drive the treasure hunter plot). 

I am sure I missed out on some of the world-building that was probably presented in the first book (likely covering much of the various races that inhabit the world and possibly more about the Ones Who Came Before aka demons), there was still quite a lot still happening here, as the MC and friends spend a fair amount of time in the World Below, leaving enough of a mystery to make it very interesting, along with the accelerating action in the back half of the book that made the book hard to put down until you get to a fairly satisfying ending. It all fit together quite well within the solid storytelling craft to make this a stand out achievement. Maybe the next installment will pick up the story of Chandra’s “blind” acolyte buddy for a peek at yet another aspect of the world.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#Shikaree #TheArnsteadChronicles #LibraryThing

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My Ratings Explained ...

  • [ ***** ] Amazing Read - Perfect story, exciting, engrossing, well developed complex characters, solid plot with few to no holes, descriptive environments and place settings, great mystery elements, realistic dialogue, believable reactions and behaviors; a favorite that I can re-read many times.
  • [ **** ] Great Read - Highly entertaining and enjoyable, exciting storyline, well developed characters and settings, a few discrepancies but nothing that can’t be overlooked. Some aspect of the story was new/refreshing to me and/or intriguing. Recommended for everyone.
  • [ *** ] Good Read - Solid story with a 'good' ending, or has some other redeeming feature. Limited character development and/or over reliance on tropes. Noticeable discrepancies in world building and/or dialog/behavior that were distracting. I connected enough with the characters/world to read the entire series. Most of the books I read for fun are here. Recommended for fans of the genre.
  • [ ** ] Okay Read - Suitable for a brief, afternoon escape … flat or shallow characters with little to no development. Over the top character dialog and/or behavior. Poor world building with significant issues and/or mistakes indicating poor research. Excessive use of trivial detail, info dumps and/or pontification. Any issues with the story/characters are offset by some other aspect that I enjoyed. Not very memorable. May only appeal to a niche group of readers. Recommended for some (YMMV).
  • [ * ] Bad Read - Awkward and/or confusing writing style. Poor world building and/or unbelievable (or unlikeable) characters. Victimization, gaslighting, blatant abuse, unnecessary violence, child endangerment, or any other highly objectionable behaviors by Main characters. I didn't connect with the story at all; significant aspects of this story irritated me enough that I struggled to finished it. Series was abandoned. Not recommended.