Obtain Immediately Watcher Of The Dead (Sword Of Shadows, #4) Formulated By J.V. Jones Available In PDF
big improvement over "A Sword from Red Ice", Jones is finally moving things into place to finish out this excellent series, Unfortunately, she's fallen into the traditional trap of the epic fantasy author: there are simply too many characters, too many storylines, and far too much meandering to keep the series as engaging as it was back in Booksand especially.
I'd almost recommend reading just those chapters pertaining to the once main character, Raif Severance, as his storyline is excellent, well written, and entirely gripping.
Ash's story is also very engaging though it is a bit disappointing that she's been delegated to a lowly supporting character in the series.
If this book had been just about Raif and Ash, I'd have given itstars.
I still think it merits astar rating based on the strength of Jones' prose and a continually fascinating world setting.
Raif Sevrance is in possession of the sword known as Loss, Unfortunately, he is also the 'guest' of a renegade group of Sull, who are determined to use him and his abilities for their own ends.
Elsewhere, Ash March finds herself in the heart of Sull territory, knowing she will find in them her greatest allies.
. . or her greatest danger. War continues to rage in the clanholds, with the armies of Blackhail, Bludd and Dhoone converging as Gandmiddich for a climactic showdown.
In Spire Vanis the new surlord struggles to hold onto power, and in the wilds the ranger Angus Lok relentless hunts down a wily enemy.
Watcher of the Dead brings the Sword of Shadows series to its fourth and hopefully penultimate though Jones has hinted that the series may expand to six volumes instalment.
It's a slightly slimmer novel than its forebears, being a clearpages shorter than the third volume, and benefits from a tighter focus on the core storylines.
Raif and Ash get a fair bit of attention, whilst Angus Lok returns to the fore after spending most of the third book missing.
Effie's storyline also moves forward more satisfyingly, with her relevance to the main storyline becoming clearer, The Dog Lord and Raina Blackhail also benefit from contrasting storylines in which both seek to consolidate or reconsolidate, in Vaylo Bludd's case their authority in the face of opposition.
There are some drawbacks to this, The tightened focus mean there's no time or room for Crope and Baralis, who simply fail to appear.
Also, a tight focus on a large cast in a more constrained page count means a relative lack of major progression in any one arc.
So Effie spends most of the book in a roundhouse in a swamp and then takes a short trip in a boat although a hugely important one.
Raif spends almost the entire book as a prisoner of the Sull, Ash, having set out to reach the Sull Heart Fires at the start of Book, finally gets there halfway through Bookand has a couple of conversations and the revelation of a 'major' plot twist which is tiresomely predictable, the first disappointing plot turn in the series to date.
Important things happen in these chapters, but there is definitely a contrast to the very busy and forwardsmoving first volume in the series.
Still, the series has never been actionpacked and fastmoving, and Jones does give us some good battles.
Raina Blackhail's storyline in fact is particularly strong, aided by the arrival of an intriguing new character, and Angus Lok's revenge storyline is extremely tense.
Best of all is Raif's character arc, Back in Bookhe was the very embodiment of the 'callow youth saves the world' trope, but by the end of this volume he is a severely traumatised, battlehardened warrior desperately searching for himself.
The subversion of the traditional fantasy hero's journey is very welldone,
Watcher of the Dead benefits in some ways from a slightly shorter page count and tightened focus, but it also suffers from it, with a lack of plot progression in some storylines and some characters simply not showing up.
The benefits to characterisation are clear and there are clear signs of the scattered characters starting to come together, but we're not on the home straight yet.
The novel is available now in the UK and USA, The fifth volume, Endlords, is still forthcoming, with the author recently Februaryjoining Patreon and confirming that finishing the novel is now a top priority.
Hoping bookfinally gets written but the probability is low given bookwas written in
I enjoyed reading about Raif Effie, the Dog Lord, Angus Lok amp Bram.
Raif gets put through the wringer to become the Watcher of the Dead,
Didnt care so much about Ash, Raina amp Marafice Eye stories, The author's writing is absolutely beautiful, and really brings the reader into the story, Unfortunately Jones does have a tendency to move the plot along very slowly, so fans of the series will most likely enjoy this book but may, like me, be ready for the plot to move a bit faster.
I just love this series, It's one excellent book after another, I love all the characters and all the storylines, Jones has become one of my favourite authors, Her writing is really good and the world is very interesting, Details and events stick to your memory, Although I waited before I read Watcher of the Dead because the next book isn't published yet, I didn't forget anything and that doesn't happen to me often.
The only bad thing is that now I have to wait, I hope the next book comes out soon,
Highly recommended. JV Jones is one of those writers who gets better with every book, Her earlier series were good but didnt leave a lasting impression, The Sword of Shadows series is different, and Watcher of the Dead, the fourth book, particularly so.
From the moment I picked it up, I struggled to put it down, And its all because of the awesome characters, Within the series there is an overarching plot about the Endlords escaping their prison in the Blind and destroying the world.
But within this, each of the different characters has their own story, Raif, Ash, Raina, Vaylo, Angus, Bram, Effie the list goes on, Each character is brilliantly drawn and you laugh, cry, hate with them all, Ash isnt in this story much but Raif, Vaylo, Raina, Bram and Effies stories are moved on a pace, with Effies being particularly interesting.
Jones manages to create an incredibly intricate world full of colour and detail that brings it alive.
You can smell the treachery in Spire Vanis, feel the cold of the Want, see the beauty of the Sull Heartfires.
This is a great book, I just hope we dont have to wait so long for the fifth one, This series is complex, with lots of moving parts, Normally I reread early books before reading the latest in a series, and I strongly recommend doing that here.
I wasn't able to, and the provided "What has gone before" summary was limited and seemed to lose steam halfway through its few pages.
You can jump straight in, but it takes a while to remember and reorient,
Watcher of the Dead is a straightforward continuation of the series, We learn more about our hero Raif, and, separately, his engaging sister Effie, The plot moves forward in fun if not terribly surprising ways, One of the things I enjoy about Jones is her willingness to defy happyending expectations and maim or kill key characters, and some of that goes on here.
A few mysteries are revealed, but not very many, This book is primarily about moving the story along, I was disappointed to finally reach the Heart of the Sull, and find it not very different from anywhere else.
This was surprising from an author who normally does well in creating murky mystery and revealing excitement.
The same is somewhat true for some of Raif's travails, While interesting, it didn't feel like a top rung effort, and there's an element at the end that seemed to come almost out of nowhere.
Nonetheless, this is a very enjoyable sequel, and the overall story is still exciting and fairly fresh.
All in all, well worth picking up for readers of the series, Definitely not the place to start if you've not read the prior books, Though if you haven't, I recommend you do, I haven't seen anything about Ms, Jones' plans, but I anticipate that the next book or at most the one after will be the end of the series.
Much more than that without a fresh infusion of energy, and I think the story will have stretched too far.
Now Im all caught up with this series as well and will have to wait like everyone else for the rest! Fortunately, there are four books I can reread anytime in the meantime, so Im happy to wait as long as necessary because I love this series so much and I know itll be worth it.
: Summary: The continuing story of the rise of the 'dark/end lords' and the preparations being made for the 'final
battle'.
The story continues not much has substantially changed by the end of the book, It's starting to get a bit boring,
Things I liked:
Some of the characters are still pretty interesting e, g. Riana, Vallo dog lord.
The author seems remembers to add details about hunting and survival that I think adds to the atmosphere of the setting.
Kid characters have a distinct voice,
Things I thought could be improved:
The author could use less modern metaphors e.
g. 'the seeds exploded like shots' shots of what a modern firearm I guess, It also seemed to me that the battle strategies of the 'clan chiefs' seemed to resemble modern warfare in both language and style.
I think it should be the job of a good editor to spot these gaffs and suggest fixing them.
They totally break the 'suspension of disbelief' that allows me to enjoy the fantasy setting,
Some of the scenes felt a bit like a script for a movie, I'd suggest less focus on schlick, movie stunt scenes and more work on believable, failable characters which is what gets me reading these books in the first place.
Highlight: Probably the bit with This fourth book in the Sword of Shadows series continues to advance the dark fantasy story that used to be promoted by TOR Publishing as another Song of Ice and Fire.
Like Martin, however, the pace of new releases has become unbearable for fans of Jones see below for more an update regarding expectations for the release of the next book in the series.
The first two books of the series wowed me with the intense emotion and absolutely brutal treatment of some of the most sympathetic characters Ive come across.
This pullnopunches approach in the first two books got me hooked and made of me a lifelong fan of Jones.
Unfortunately, she disappointed with A SWORD OF RED ICE, where the intensity dropped off and the characters were moved around in a much more predictable manner.
That, along with the unexpected demise of the most important antagonist, Penthero Iss, resulted in a book that had a hard time keeping my attention.
I had high hopes that Jones would get back on track with WATCHER OF THE DEAD, hopes that were mostly unmet.
The intensity and brutality that made booksandso powerful was partially restored here, in particularly with the treatment of Raif, but in a repetitive and notsoshocking way.
The progression of the storyline also continued to feel slow and guided by a heavy hand, This one definitely did recreate the thrill I felt while reading the first two entries,
In WATCHER OF THE DEAD, the story is again told from the perspective of an array of familiar POV characters.
Raif is again the character on whom the most time is spent, He is treated brutally here, being captured and tortured by a rogue group of Sull, with the purpose of making of him a weapon, assumedly to use against the Endlords.
Ash Marsh has also essentially lost her freedom at the hands of the Sull, though with a much gentler group.
Her story has gotten downright boring, The rest of the book focuses on Raina Blackhails attempts to consolidate power in her clan, the Dog Lords fumbling efforts to regain his seat in Bludd, Angus Loks mindless focus on revenge for his murdered family, Effies confusing imprisonment at the cursed Clan Gray, and Bram Cormacs education as a new member of the Phage.
We also get a humorous look at Marafice Eyes unpleasant new life as the Surlord of Spire Vanis.
Unfortunately, Crope and his master seem to have been forgotten about as we hear nothing of them.
WATCHER OF THE DEAD has a very strange and outofleftfield ending, with Raif appearing to be brought back from the edge of sanity by a love interest that I didnt even remember meeting before.
Based on the way the various storylines are coming together, WATCHER OF THE DEAD should be the penultimate book in the series.
ENDLORDS should bring things to a head and hopefully finish the stories of these longabused characters,
For all those fans wondering where the next book in the series is, Jones had started writing ENDLORDS back inbut then stopped due to “a tumultuous phase” in her life.
As ofshe has apparently resumed work on theth book of the series, but cautions that progress is very slow.
She appears uncertain of her capacity to finish the book, writing the “Before I can write ENDLORDS, I need to be sure I can write.
” She is concurrently working on a serialized project call SORRY JONES to coax some financing out of her Patreon supporters.
No one seems to know what was going on during Jones hiatus, but at least it appears she is making some attempt to get back to the grindstone.
Her fans will forgive her absence, especially if she can deliver what they expect with ENDLORDS,
.