Nova Praetorian by NR Walker

 

Nova Praetorian by N.R. Walker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I think this is the first book in the history of NR Walker that I didn't love.
I like it, it's good. The research that went in to all of this Roman culture is phenomenal, but the story didn't really speak to me.

I loved Quintus and Kaeso (sp?) as characters, and the 2 female gladiators were a show stealer. Really just all the relationships that Quintus had with all the people close to him was amazing, he's a likeable guy. There's just something within the story that wasn't pulling. I was way over all the sex scenes (gasp, I know!). They made me impatient to get to the actual story. I feel like without them, the book would have moved along better?

I thought Tiberius was a bit "much" as well. An extra villainous villain if you will. I didn't love how that all played out, like the whole plan was over the top.

In any case. The main characters are phenomenal and well written, the research- amazing, most of the story is engaging. Joel did an amazing job with the narration. I do love when he does stories outside of American culture and contemporarism (not a word, but I'm keeping it). His accents are always fun and it's incredible the range he can pull off.

If you're expecting a full on gladiator book, this isn't it. It's more about the political deceit.So expect to go on a twisty game of chess.

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The Dichotomy of Angels by NR Walker

 

The Dichotomy of Angels by N.R. Walker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm going to go all Angel nerd for a minute.

I loved that NR incorporated real angels into a fictional story.

The part that intrigued me most was her portrayal of Metatron. I'm wondering what made her to decide to take an Archangel that is known to be one of 2 of the only Archangels to have ever been human first...human men (Metatron and his twin brother Sandalphon). Like why that specific angel? I'm not by any means saying it's wrong, as all light beings are equally masculine/feminine energies equally and come to us as we need them. I just found this interesting. I see Gabriel and Uriel as female myself.

I loved the fact that she portrays that every religion carries a piece of the truth in each and that in Heaven, they all get along. I believe this as well.

As for the twin flame aspect, I have my own view of twin flame relationships. I will keep my beliefs to myself, but this fictional story did make me think about some things on a weirdly deep level.

I'm also glad I did not read (listen) to this book sooner, I don't believe I would have gotten that message if I had listened sooner.

Ok, I'm done being a nerd...
Onto the actually story.

This story, for me, was almost as equally sad as it was funny. Though, I thought it was more sad lol. Nathaniel was oddly humorous and endearing in is his kind of nievety. Nathaniel has been hiding out in "hell" , away from Chasan, as he wants to be the one in charge of his own fate.

St. Peter sends these two angels in a mission on Earth together as a team for the first time in 1000 years. They must portray teachers running a class of 4 year olds.

Nathaniel likes toput on this persona of a bad ass who who runs hell, but really he is the kindest soul who loves dogs, and baby goats, and children..and it's really just the sweetest thing. He just needs to get over some past trauma and the realization that he's good enough for Chasan.

Poor Chasan has been dragged along for 1000 years, living in sort of a limbo state, waiting for his twin soul to wakeup from a funk. This is sort of the saddest part of the book, when he decides to give up and wants to sever the bond.

I'm going to leave this review here, I don't want to give too much more of the story away. All in all,I loved the world building, the characters, the storyline, and the narration

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The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

 

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Daniel Henning (narrator) absolutely seems to belong in the TJ world. He fits.

I'm pretty sure Sal is my youngest nephew. Big and quiet, unless around the right people.

I adore Chauncey. Talia is my animal spirit and Lucy is so special. All of the children, really. They're so unique and bring such great qualities to this story.

I loved everything about this. Absolutely everything. It's a great lesson in discrimination and archaic systems that need to be left behind and new ones formed (looking at you government and educational systems).

I can see why this came out in 2020, but I'm also really glad I saved it for 2021. <3

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The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune

 

The Extraordinaries by T.J. Klune
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love this story. I love the narration by Michael Lesley.

A few things I noticed though:
Being a huge Klune fan for many-a-year, I noticed a lot of similarities in characters across all series.

Nicky is pretty clueless just like Sam of Wilds. The humor is also closely resembled in both those characters. I also felt a lot of Paul come through.

Don't get me wrong, I adore all those characters, and I think a lot of that is just TJ's humor coming through, but I also love variety and uniqueness and I only felt a small amount of that here.

That being said, if you're just climbing in to the TJ world through this new publisher and genre, then this is 100% the best introduction to TJ you could have.

ENJOY!

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