Dear Sean,

When I was growing up and my parents would make weird things for dinner (and by weird I mean stuff like red wine stew that my young taste buds could not yet appreciate) I came up with a politically correct way of saying I didn’t like it, and that phrase was “It’s not my favorite.” This, or simply drowning whatever was put in front of me with tomato sauce, was a sure fire way of telling my parents not to make that concoction again. 

Since I do not want to douse my e-reader with tomato sauce, I’m going to have to say that much like red wine stew to 10 year old me, this book was not my favorite. 

To be brutally honest, for the first 50% of this book, the only thing that kept me reading, was the promise of another Nicolas Cage worthy quote to put in my reading progress. There were so many characters, so many point of views, and yet nothing seemed to be happening. This was me for most of the first half of the book:



I had to set myself little goals to keep reading, and when I got to those goals, my reward was a Nicolas Cage picture. YAY.



At about page 200, things started to ramp up and I was excited to see what would happen. And bloody hell Sean, this is also about the time you turned into George R.R. Martin on us, is no character of yours safe? 



While I understand now, that the first half of the book was setting up all the information and drama needed to unfold the epic finale, there were times when I nearly gave up reading, because I was worried that although all of this back story and set up was beautifully written, it wasn’t ever going to end up getting us anywhere. 



Truth be told, I wanted more Beaumont. I wanted more Trusty John. They were excellent in a creepy and psychopathic way. I loved Henry. What a character! I also enjoyed Alfred and Will’s relationship, but Alfred’s inability to ever press for answers became rather annoying, I am all for keeping up appearances, but his often quixotic nature was self detrimental most of the time. 

This story had a little bit of everything in the end, it had adventure, it had intrigue, it had heartbreak and it really left me reeling at some points at the end there.



The best thing about this book is its writing. Sean, you really do have a way with words. Sure, you sometimes use too many, they are purple as fuck and I often had to google the meaning of some things, but overall this is a well written tale. 



I feel like I gained brain cells with every paragraph I read of this, whereas I lost brain cells for every paragraph I read of this alien smut.



What this boils down to is that it’s not you, Camelot Shadow, it’s me. I like paranormal romance, creepy stalker books and alien smut. And while there are some supernatural elements at play here and the plot was driven by Alfred’s desire to cure his ill wife, in the end, it’s not my favorite . 

While this was not my cup of tea, I’m sure there are many out there who will enjoy this Sherlockian adventure tale with an Arthurian twist. 

A lovely addition to my Indie August Challenge.

3 fridays-are-very-agreeable-days Stars



I am friends with Sean, this in no way affected the rating I have given.

“When in doubt, let your hate lead you.”

When I first picked this book up, I was taken aback by how brutal the opening pages were. Seriously, there is some fucked up shit at the start of this book, raping, pillaging, burning villages. It was in your face brutality, and although it was a giant slap in the face, I immediately thought of Joffrey from Game Of Thrones, and found that I was actually excited to get to know this villainous leading man, Jorg. Especially, because when we meet him, he is only thirteen! THIRTEENand he is raping women, pillaging villages and leading a band of outlaws. It’s pure madness and I enjoyed hating him.

“You can only win the game when you understand that it is a game. Let a man play chess, and tell him every pawn is his friend. Let him think both bishops holy. Let him remember happy days in the shadows of his castles. Let him love his queen. Watch him lose them all.”

What I was truly hoping for, was that this would be the darker, more sinister second cousin of Half A King, and the first half of this book was exactly that… It was fantastic to hear how remorseless and just a complete asshole Jorg was. 

“The way to break the cycle is to kill every single one of the bastards that fucked you over, every last one of them. Kill them all. Kill their mothers, kill their brothers, kill their children, kill their dog.”

And then I got hit in the face with a waft of romance , around 40% in. 

That is where this book went wrong for me. As soon as Katherine came along, this book became tedious. What should have taken me 2-3 hours to finish, turned into three days, because I just didn’t want to read it anymore. 

I’m not laying the blame completely on the romance though. The second half of this story is nowhere near as strong as the start, I feel like Mr. Lawrence tried to fit WAY too much in the second half and some of the plot twists that were revealed very late into this, were eye roll inducing. 

I’m upset. 

What does it say about me, that I wish this entire book was just about how much of a warmongering asshole Jorg was? I didn’t care for the… semi-redemption story line that appeared in the second half. I did enjoy the magic though.

I don’t know. This is a tough one. I honestly thought this would be a five star for me. But that second half. Urgh. I am curious to see where the story goes, so I may keep reading. But no promises. 

2.5 warmongering-asshole Stars

“War is a thing of beauty, and those who say otherwise are losing.”